


Solve Me, Bend Me, Break Me

by LittleBlueArtist



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Detective AU, Detective!Levi, M/M, Police AU, WHAT YEAR IS IT, and im writing snk smh, cant believe, detective!erwin, levi can see ghosts, well FBI agent levi but whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2018-11-08 10:04:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11079339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBlueArtist/pseuds/LittleBlueArtist
Summary: Erwin Smith is a homicide detective in Chicago. He works long days and long nights to solve the cases deemed impossible. Except one of them really is. A pile of bones found in a back alley requires the force of expert forensic anthropologist and FBI agent, Levi. As bone after bone reveals itself, Levi and Erwin race to find the missing link before the killer can strike again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo wassup everyone! So if you've noticed, I'm kinda running two fics at once here. That's because it's so much easier for me to work on two things at once so my inspiration doesn't get stamped out. I'll update both at the same time, hopefully! Hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Also side note it's 2017 and im writing eruri smh i can never escape these two.

The busy Chicago streets bustle with people walking to their next destination and buses announcing their stops. The automated voice pierces through the sound of walking feet and ringing phones. However, here, in the dark alley behind a hotel, all that can be heard is the squeaking of rats and buzzing of flies. The police team crosses off the entrance to the alley with tape, a tall blond man already looking at the gruesome scene before him. His blue eyes gaze upon the pile of bones, scattered in some sort of pattern he cannot decipher.

A man taller than himself, which is quite an intimidating height, saddles up beside him, nose sniffing the air. “They don’t smell fresh,” he says, a grave formality in his voice. “What do you make of the way they’re laying?”

“I don’t know, Mike,” the blond man says, eyebrows drawn as he stares at these piles of bones. “Do we have an ID on them yet?”

“Not yet. The forensic guy is on his way. Supposed to be one of the best in his field.”

Just as Mike finishes speaking, a new voice enters the crime scene. It’s loud and strings a lot of curses behind it as the owner walks towards the dumpster the person was placed behind. The man is small, tiny compared to someone like Mike and the blond detective. He can’t be more than a couple inches over five feet tall. His hair is a haunting black, falling over his face in a neat middle part, most of it shaved off in an undercut.

He walks up to the two men, straightening himself out to make up for his short stature. He has to look up to make eye contact with them. He’s got a satchel on, strap against his chest. The bag is old, worn leather, marked by years of use. “You the head detectives here?” he asks, eyes piercing and calculating. They give away no emotion.

“Yes,” the blond one says, outstretching his hand. “My name is Erwin Smith, and this is my partner, Mike Zacharius.”

The man puts on gloves instead of shaking hands, and bends down towards the bones. “The name’s Levi. Have you gotten pictures of this formation yet?” His hands are hovering over the scene, wanting to touch but not wanting to disturb evidence.

“It was the first thing done,” Erwin assures, looking at the strange man before him. Eyes that had been indifferent a second ago are now filled with precision and focus.

Levi’s hands inspect the skull first. He runs his fingers gently over the nasal cavity and the jawline, tips flitting over the orbital bone. “Caucasian female, about twenty to twenty-five years old. I don’t think we’ll be able to ID her any time soon.” He sets the skull back down and picks up a small bone, lying near the center of the weird hexagonal shape the bones made up.

“And why not?” Erwin asks, perplexed by how fast Levi managed to find sex and race. He’s always been fascinated by forensics. He’s surprised the Bureau only sent out one man and not a team. Maybe they think this case is a dud. It wouldn’t be the first time. With over 700 murders per year in Chicago, the FBI isn’t willing to send out a specialist team for each and every one that puzzles a precinct. Erwin is grateful they adhered to this case, at least. He knows they would’ve gotten nowhere by themselves. Levi is a small blessing.

“Because this skull is at least fifty years old,” Levi says, still studying the small bone he picked up. He digs in his bag for a second to produce a magnifying glass, and places it over so he can see through it. He studies it for a moment before pulling back. “But this is different. These aren’t from the same body. This is a metacarpal from someone no older than seven years old. It’s only a couple months old, from what I can tell. I’m gonna need all of this packed and sent to your lab or morgue. It’s the only way I can see if there’s more than two bodies here.” But he doesn’t have to study them to know there’s more than two. From first glance, he can tell there’s over four.  

Erwin is almost speechless as Levi barks orders to two terrified interns. He’s quite intimidating. His entire being radiates power and aggressiveness. The tall blond closes the gap between them and walks with Levi to his car. “Can you make anything of the way they were scattered?”

“It could be anything. Multiple cultures use human remains as tools for divination, but not many, if any at all, use multiple people for that process.”

The drive through Chicago’s busy streets is taken up mostly by traffic and Taxi drivers who can’t navigate to save their lives. The precinct, in the 23rd district, is bustling about. Phones are ringing and officers buzz about to solve different cases. Levi is no stranger to the sounds of a police station, but it’s been awhile since he’s been in one this busy. He was only given his FBI status a few years ago, only a scientist before that. He put himself through the academy so he didn’t have to sit in a lab coat all day, wondering when the big men would come back with all the answers.

Erwin leads him to an office, marked with the name _Smith_ , and opens the door. Inside is a neat desk with everything aligned _just so_. Not one pen is out of place. It makes some sort of calm wash over the FBI agent. Erwin sits down behind the desk and gestures Levi to sit on one of the plush chairs in front of it. He doesn’t let himself relax in it.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Erwin says, voice calm and smooth. It never wavers, is never unsure of itself. Erwin Smith is nothing but calm and composed at all times, voice never giving away the inner workings of his mind. Yet, he gets the feeling that Levi’s eyes can bore right into his skull.

“I haven’t had something as interesting as this in awhile,” Levi says back, fingers tapping on the arms of the chair. “Some case you’ve managed to get wrapped into, detective.” He needs a smoke. The lighter in his pocket burns his thigh. He remembers that he’s supposed to be quitting and curses himself for making such a dumb decision.

“I’m lead detective on most of the cases no one wants.”

“Success rate?”

“Seventy percent.”

Levi whistles low, impressed. “That’s some number in a place like this.”

“Thank you. For now, I’m more concerned on the fact that there’s more than one body.” He stops to pull some files out of his desk and passes them over the nice wood. There’s not much in them, but it’s all the leads he has to go on. “Here are all the files I’ve pulled up since learning about the case. This is the second dump like this we’ve had in five years. Back then, there was more than one body, too, but the killer was never found.”

Levi takes the files and flips through them, his expert eyes making quick work of the information. The notes were made by someone with less expertise as him, he can tell. In a case like this, everything rides on his ability to form conclusions about each piece of bone he inspects. If he can’t make the right ones, the case might as well be set on fire and never seen again. “There’s at least four bodies in the one we have now. I can only see two here. Whoever this is, they’ve escalated.”

“You said the skull was over fifty years old?”

“It’s easy to get human remains that old, especially in places with little security. I can’t imagine too many people are worried about a grave robbing when there’s a shooting two blocks down, can you?”

Erwin nods and watches Levi’s thin, long fingers flip through the pages. There’s no denying the man in front of him is beautiful and stunning. His body, small and lean, holds a lot of power. His eyes are only intrigued when they’re working, voice rarely showing any of the emotions that must be running through its owner’s head. Even now, in the security of Erwin’s office, he doesn’t relax. His muscles are taut, back straight, legs stuck together like he’s ready to get up and leave any moment.

This puts Erwin on edge. If Levi isn’t willing to trust him, to be so closed off to another officer, what is the reason that Erwin should have trust? He didn’t even give him a last name, just Levi. “No, I cannot,” he finally answers. “I’ll look through recent missing persons reports for anyone in the age range you told me about, but it’s a long shot we’ll find them. There’s so many out here… It’ll be almost impossible.”

“I’ll get to the morgue and try to figure out how many remains we’re dealing with. Here’s my number. Call me if you find anything.” Levi slides his card over the table and stands, FBI jacket rising with his arms as he stretches. He still grumbles about how it’s the smallest size and almost too big. He walks out just as Mike walks in. The larger man takes a deep inhale as they pass and nods. No words are exchanged between them.

One of the techs at the scene escorts Levi to the morgue. It’s a lot less fancy than his lab back at home. Even though he doesn’t work as a scientist anymore, sometimes his input is still needed on particular finds. On one of the metal examining tables, the bones are laid out in the same fashion they were found. Photos of the crime scene are placed in a folder beside them. The place is fluorescently lit, and it hurts Levi’s eyes to look at it for too long. “Grab a few more tables,” he says to the tech. She’s short, pretty, auburn hair falling in a cute bob. He wonders if she has any cigarettes. Damn, the withdrawal is really kicking his ass. He’s been more irritable than usual, which is a pain in the ass for any of his colleagues. Hanji probably wants him to be the next victim they find.

“My name’s Petra! Just call for me if you need any help down here! I’m the resident M.E.!” Her voice is perky, happy, like she had gotten enough sleep and drank only one cup of coffee that morning.

“ _You’re_ the medical examiner? Thought you were just a tech.”

“Why are you so shocked?”

Levi thinks of saying _don’t see a lot of people like you in here_ , but he bites his tongue. He figures you have to be some sort of happy to counteract the feel of death and sorrow. “Levi.”

“Excuse me?” Petra asks, looking up from the clipboard she was studying.

“That’s my name. Levi.”

“Nice to meet you. I have an autopsy scheduled in an hour, so sorry about the noise. Again, if you need any help, don’t hesitate to call!” She walks away towards another section of the building, the door shutting softly behind her.

Levi sighs and gets to work, pulling up the lit magnifying glass and a stool, bringing it over to the metacarpal. His best conclusion is that this person is a prepubescent male, no older than seven. There’s two other bones that match that description. Out of the fourteen on the table, it doesn’t seem like much.

Along with the skull, he places a phalange and a tibia. He sets the skull down gently. There used to be a whole person in that head, and now they’re gone. Memories he used to shove down with long nights of booze and three packs of cigarettes flit at the corner of his mind. He focuses on the work instead, moving to the next pair of remains.

There’s a femur that belongs to a caucasian male, in his early twenties as well, roughly the same age as the woman. His bones are newer though, death about ten years ago. Two other bones match his, and he places them for further examination on a different table.

The next ones he focuses on are the most intriguing. It is another metacarpal, also of some prepubescent child. A male. Except unlike the others, these remains are hundreds of years old. They could quite possibly be from a pre-Columbian era. It would be incredibly hard to get hands on one of these, unless this person had a deep connection with the black market. Seeing as they had all these bones in the first place, it’s not a theory to entirely rule out.

The longer he holds the bone the more entranced he becomes by it, losing all sense of time itself as he looks at the way it’s been presented. It’s as if he can _feel_ whoever it belonged to. And suddenly he’s slipping away as his grip loosens on the stem of the magnifying glass. The bone clatters back onto the table and it’s a string of, “No, no, not now I’m not even dreaming you fucking-” but it’s cut off.

_Mountains._

_Stumbling, tripping._

_Soft clothes, bare feet._

_The forest._

_Running._

_Scared. So scared. Pure horror._

_It is an honor._

_The sun._

_A celebration._

***

Levi comes back to himself, a pounding headache thundering in his skull.

He’s on the floor. Disgusting.

Groaning slightly, he pulls himself up and rubs his temples. The stool has been knocked over from his fall, and he’s thankful no one was around to witness it. A look at his phone confirms it’s only been a few minutes. Feels like centuries. He really needs a smoke. Or a drink. Maybe both.

He sits the stool back up and clambers onto it once more, now staring at the ancient finger. It most likely belonged to the pinky finger, but it’s hard to tell. He takes out his sketchbook and flips to a new page, quickly drawing and making notes of what he saw before it slips away. His book is filled with pages like this, of things he’s seen but cannot control. It usually comes when he’s dreaming. It’s never anything happy. He only sees death. Sometimes it’s clearer, more detailed, but this had been brief. All that’s leftover is the feeling of pure terror laying low in his gut.

He sets the bone aside for now and moves on to the others. There’s six victims in total, yet he doubts that the others are important. There are only two that are hundreds of years apart, yet are presented in the same way. The two metacarpals. He places them down and looks at the scene his mind has sketched out. Levi never took art classes, he never practiced, he didn’t spend years staining his hands with charcoals.

He simply woke up one day, the face of a young girl in his mind, and sat down to draw her. It’s like his hands have thoughts of their own as he draws. Now, after years, he’s quite good if he wants to be. He became a leading forensic artist among other things, putting faces to skulls when there is nothing left but bones. He’s helped identify victims from ship sinkings and mass graves. He’s also the person usually leading those expositions. It never gets easier, seeing people who died so maliciously. He supposes he’s used to it now, so much so that he doesn’t look twice at a dead body. He is neutral. He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

On the once blank page of his sketchbook now lies a forest that tapers off into a mountain, the sun shining high above. It’s gorgeous, untainted by human construction. Yet looking at it gives him a feeling of dread. He marks the words that crept into his head after the collapse, puts the date, and sets the book aside. He can deal with that shit storm later.

He places the two metacarpals together and draws the magnifying glass closer. He’s in the middle of writing notes when the door opens and heavy footsteps land on the tile. “I combed through all the reports that fit your description. There’s still a lot, and many of these kids could be dead, but…” He trails off as he realizes Levi isn’t listening. He knows the other man knows he’s in the room, as his posture is once again perfect, but he doesn’t do anything other than that.

“Look at this, detective,” Levi says, beckoning for Erwin to look through the glass.

Erwin complies, leaning down with, “Call me Erwin. Detective is too formal.” First, you establish a connection. First, you make the new feel welcome. First, you let them know that the foundation is there. This is what Erwin knows about gaining trust. He has talked through enough situations to know that much. Now, as he looks through and tries to see what Levi does, he thinks that his usual methods will not work. “What am I supposed to be seeing?”

“These are both males, no older than seven. This one is from, my best conclusion, Mesoamerica. The other one is from modern times, yet they’re presented in the exact same way. There’s no indication these fingers were cut off, no indication that any of these victims were used for cannibalistic reasons. Yet this bone is almost perfectly mummified. There is care here.” He sets down the older bone and picks up the newer one, bringing it closer. “This one was taken care of as well, no signs of physical trauma. It looks as if someone cleaned it.”

Erwin looks at the way Levi’s eyes glimmer with _something_ as he explains his findings. He loves his work. “And what does this tell you?”

“You know, most people would be horrified at the fact someone murdered a child and took the time to clean their bones.”

Erwin lets himself smile. “It never gets easier to learn these things, but you come to handle it in your own ways, do you not?” He turns that ever charming smile on Levi, daring him to say something.

He only looks at the bones in his hands and places them back on the table. “Wipe that shit eating grin off your face, _Smith_ , we’ve got work to do.”

The blond sighs and sits on another stool, bringing the crime scene photos towards himself and looking through them. The shape is still a mystery to him, yet he suspects the two bones Levi found are the most important. Both of them were in the center, lying side by side, as if comparing themselves. They’re so small. Suddenly, he feels the need to call his niece and make sure she’s okay. It really doesn’t get easier. He remembers his first case involving a child. Sexually assaulted, beaten, thrown into the river like she was nothing. Erwin threw up. He had been fresh out of the academy and got stuck with the worst case imaginable.

Now, looking at the little kids here, even if it’s just part of their hands, he thinks the same thing he did all those years ago. _We will solve this for you_.

“I think we should start by figuring out who could gain access to a bone like this,” Levi says suddenly, jarring Erwin out of his thoughts. “It would take a lot of cash and some dirty deeds.”

“I’ll reach out to some of my informants and contacts, but the earliest time we’ll get an answer is tomorrow morning. Why not go home and get some rest?” He reaches out to pat Levi on the shoulder but stops, sensing the acute mood switch. He doesn’t want to be touched.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a sec.” He lets Erwin leave and looks around the room. It feels...wrong. Something in here isn’t right and he’s not quite sure what it is, but it makes a shiver go down his spine, and not many things make that happen. Sighing, Levi packs up the evidence and takes his sketchbook, walking quickly towards the door, ignoring Erwin and whoever he’s talking to. That guy feels too composed for his liking. Everything about him is thought out in the morning before work, like he takes time making note of what smile pleases each person.

On the way out he stops by the secretary, getting a temporary access badge for the precinct’s facilities. “Have you seen Petra?” he asks. He wants to talk with her about his findings. He hopes there’ll be someone else in this godforsaken place that knows a femur from a fibula.

“I’m sorry, who?” the woman asks, her hair done in tight braids that taper off towards the end.

“Petra. The medical examiner?”

Her eyebrows furrow for a moment before a look of clarity comes over her face. “Oh, that happened before I got here. I thought everyone knew. Honey, Petra Ral died about five years ago. I was told she killed herself in the morgue. Poor thing. The new M.E. is a man named Ororo. He’ll be in tomorrow! Sorry about that confusion.” She passes him his badge and he takes it numbly, heading out to his rental car.

Of course she was dead. The only half decent person he met all day and she has to be goddamn _dead_. The ride to his motel is a quiet one and he opens the door to find a half-clean room. At least, to his standards. He’s gonna end up cleaning the whole night, he knows, since this case is going to take longer than expected.

For now, he plops into a creaky old wooden chair, throws his sketchbook onto the table, and thinks about what he saw. A little boy so terrified of the woods, yet it was as if he was swimming through Jell-O. It’s a feeling he wouldn’t be able to explain.

His father is laughing at him from beyond the grave, he’s sure. He never believed in any of this stuff, and Levi isn’t quite sure he does, either. He remembers his mother waking up in the middle of the night, the portraits she would paint in her studio. They would always be stunningly accurate, and usually they would coincide with a missing poster. Except, if his mother saw their face, it was already too late. She died of a tumor when Levi was thirteen, and that’s when his dreams started.

It was the face of his best friend first. Her bright hair, tied up in pigtails. Her blazing smile covered in blood. Her lovely dress drenched in red. Her body laid lifeless, unmoving, in the field by their school. Her eyes, wide, open, stared straight into him. He woke up and puked on his floor.

He got the news the next morning.

Isabel Magnolia had been stabbed to death. They caught the guy two weeks later. He was convicted for three murders, all with the same MO. She had asked him to go out that night. She had asked him to walk with her to the library to study for a test. He had said no, he wasn’t feeling well, even though that was a lie and they both knew it. If he had just gone…

“Get over it,” he grumbles to himself, pushing around the pencil on his scene, filling in little things he missed the first time. Over time he came to learn, through his mother’s old writings and his grandmother’s tales, that he is a seer. Seers range in power, but his mother was a pretty powerful one. She could talk to the dead, not just dream about them. Levi only had twice. Once with Isabel, and now once with Petra. Seems the only ghosts he can see are pretty little redheads.

But other than that, he sees the faces of those that were wronged. They haunt his dreams and creep into every waking hour, never far from his conscious. He hates them. He wants to save them all. He hopes they all burn in hell. He can’t save everyone, and he was never meant to. He was just meant to put their faces to bodies, a seer for people who are blind.

He’s never met anyone else like him.

There are too many blind people in this world.

Levi wishes he was one of them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so floored by the feedback I've gotten on this fic. It makes me really happy whenever I get a comment notif and I'm so incredibly happy you guys enjoyed the first chapter! There are some updates in the end notes so don't forget to read them! I hope you guys enjoy!

Levi wakes with a sharp inhale, sitting up quickly from the bed. He spent most of the night cleaning, making this room at least sleepable. It had been a disgusting mess from the start. Now, as he glances at the clock, he realizes it’s only been three hours. Better than none. 

Sighing, he kicks off the sheets and makes his way towards his sketchbook, drawing out the faces he saw that night. It was a rare night where more than one took up his attention. The first is Petra. He can see the way she took the cyanide pill in her own little morgue. She swallowed with no hesitation, and he wonders why. He wonders even more why he can see her. The next is the little boy he felt so strongly back at the morgue.

His features are still unclear, a little blurry as he draws him out. The face is a mask he can’t take off. The boy is hiding from him, scared maybe. That cold dread settles in his stomach again and he thinks about what he dreamt of. He remembers a mountain and a swarm of people, almost like a celebration.

He had been dressed in nice clothes, though severely out of date, and no shoes, wandering through rough forests and grassy hills, just climbing. Everything had felt foggy...like he was drunk. He felt so tired. “Who the fuck are you kid?” he asks, gently thumbing over the picture he couldn’t ever draw on his own. 

Sighing, Levi picks up the case file he brought with him and looks through the photos again, pawing through every text he can find on bone divination, though the shape doesn’t match any ritual he can find. It’s been done in so many cultures it’s almost impossible to figure out which one this guy might be from. The sun is rising by the time he pulls himself out of research, brain stuffed about fortune telling and using the human body to predict the future. At least the guy wasn’t pulling the guts out. 

His phone rings when he’s in line for coffee, the man in front of him ordering an entire family’s worth of drinks. He’s tempted to flash his badge just so he doesn’t have to deal with this annoying shit show. “Levi,” he answers, voice stern and professional.

“I got a lead on where the bone might have come from,” Erwin says from the other line, voice a little ragged. 

“Meet me at the precinct in twenty.”

“Of course.” 

Levi hangs up and gets the biggest cup of coffee the shop has and it’s not nearly big enough for the amount of sleep he doesn’t get. The weight of his exhaustion bares down on his shoulders, yet he shrugs it off and gets in his car. Erwin is waiting for him in his office, fingers laced together with elbows on the table. He looks in charge, powerful. He is in command, no doubt about it.

Levi wants to challenge that authority. Hell, he  _ will  _ challenge that authority. He didn’t spend years clawing his way to the top to be bossed around by some piss poor detective. 

Mike is sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk, his massive body leaving no room around him. Levi feels awfully small in the room with two giant men. He makes sure his mouth makes up for it. “Oy, what the fuck were you doin’ sniffin’ me yesterday? You some kind of pervert?”

Erwin only smiles and gestures for Levi to sit down. “Mike has hyperosmia,” he explains, stealing a glance at his best friend. “He can smell things from a mile away.”

“Freak,” Levi mutters, turning back to the man behind the desk. “What’s your lead, Smith?”

“One of my informants has told me about a market specializing in bones and human remains, especially ancient ones. Most of the pieces are stolen from museums or exhibitions, some even just dug up from graves and marketed as ancient. Your intuition was correct, however. Someone would need to fork over a lot of cash for a bone like that. Probably over a million dollars, and money like that doesn’t come easy. I had my computer specialist run an analysis on who might have that kind of cash in this area. It’s not a lot of names, but it’s enough that it’ll take awhile to sift through them.”

He hands the files over to the FBI agent, who skims through them, eyes never leaving the page. It’s like this that he’s the most unguarded, and it’s like this that Erwin can see the bags under his eyes. Deep, large, a dark purple. He thinks it’s been a long time since Levi has gotten a full night’s sleep. He watches those intriguing grey eyes scan over each detail of each profile. They never leave the page. 

When he’s done flipping through them, fingers still enclosed over one, he looks back up at Erwin. “There’s only four people on this list, it shouldn’t take that long. Is your dog over here coming with me or are you?”

The way Levi looks at Erwin makes him smile. There’s a challenge in those eyes, and it’s been a long time since a challenge has been presented towards him. He has a feeling this case will be very important indeed. “I’ll go. Mike, you stay here and see what you can get from the evidence.”

The two stand and make their way towards the door, getting into Erwin’s van. It’s intimidating the way it goes down the road. It’s clearly a police vehicle, and Levi can see the way people around it get nervous, and he can see which ones are smart enough to change direction, in case it is really coming after them.

The one file he found most interesting, was that of Rod Reiss. An inherently rich man who had been rich his entire life, never needing employment or schooling to stay under house and home. Levi envies him for this, but he would never admit it. He is the last stop they make, and the only one whose smile is a little too calm and practiced. It sets the FBI agent on edge immediately. He can usually tell if a situation is going sour or not.

Levi flashes his badge first, the FBI more intimidating than the Chicago P.D., yet Erwin holds his up as well. Erwin places his hands in front of him, crossing them in a stance of power. He is not going anywhere until he gets some answers. “Mr. Reiss, sorry to interrupt your busy schedule. My name is Detective Erwin Smith, and this here is Agent Levi. We would just like to ask you a few questions, if that’s all right?”

Rod opens his door just a little too soon for Levi’s liking and says, “Of course, come on in. Thank you for all the work you do to keep this community safe.”

The fact that he doesn’t ask what they want to talk to him about does not go unnoticed by either cop. They walk in together, and each one takes in the beautiful view. Levi barely moves his head, takes in everything with his eyes, unnoticeably. He doesn’t need to see a lot to know this man has more money than he knows what to do with. Erwin, on the other hand, openly gazes at the stunning paintings and exquisite decorations. Big floral pieces lay on small tables throughout the main hall as Rod leads them to the living room. It’s spacious and as grand as the rest as the mansion, plush couches and white tiled floors decorating the room. 

Levi feels unsettled by this place. It doesn’t sit well in his stomach and he wants to bolt, which is so unlike any feeling he’s ever had before it makes him believe it isn’t all his. There’s something other than themselves in these walls. He takes a seat on the sofa next to Erwin and turns to his suspect. “Mr. Reiss, may we ask where you were last night?” Levi says, eyes never leaving the man in front of him. He has the deepest need to see him squirm.

Rod settles into his chair, smug little smile settling on his face. “I was here all night. Two of my live in maids can attest to that.”

He knew he would need an alibi. This makes Erwin’s smile become just a little more predatory. “Of course. Mr. Reiss, it’s to my understanding that you work closely with historians on certain projects? Would you like to disclose what those are?”

“I’m sorry gentleman, but unless you have a court order, I can’t give out that information. It’s very secretive and need-to-know. I wish I could help you more.”

Levi stares at an apple on the table. It entrances him, makes his stomach roll from how sweet it would taste, even though he’s not even 100% certain it’s real. He tries to shake himself out of it, but the more he tries the more it seems to suck him in. A feeling of disgust and horror curls around in his stomach and he feels like he might need to puke. Disgusting. “Mr. Reiss, I’m sorry to ask, but do you have a restroom anywhere?”

“Yes, of course. Just the next room over, third door on your right. Are you feeling well, agent? You look a little pale.”

Erwin looks over at his new-found partner, and besides the clench of his hand, can’t find anything out of the ordinary with his behavior. 

Levi only nods and stands, his feet making no sound as he makes the walk to the bathroom. When he gets there, he’s almost in a panic. His heart can’t stop pounding in his chest and a cold sweat has broken out on his skin. He needs five showers to wipe this off him. “Just fucking say it already!” he screams, staring at his own reflection.

But it’s not his own, not completely. Behind him is Petra, yet he knows if he turns around, she’ll disappear. So he stays glued to the mirror, looking through this glass that is said to be a door between worlds. His mother used to spend hours telling him everything about the other side that she knew. She always said mirrors were dangerous. They never hide the truth. “What the hell do you want?” he snaps, the beginning of a headache starting a dull roar in his head. 

“I want you to think,” she says, her smile warm and comforting. It settles his uneasiness somewhat. “Make logical conclusions to illogical problems.”

“You’re the illogical problem,” Levi says back, gazing into her eyes. They’re soft. 

“What else is here?”

“I’m not…” He takes a deep breath. She’s right. He can’t lose his head—not here, not ever. It risks too much. He’s risked too much already. God, he really needs a damn smoke after today. Which idiot let him quit? “These aren’t my emotions. I’m not feeling these things.”

“And what is the logical conclusion based on past and current experiences?” She waits patiently for his answer. Not like she doesn’t have all the time in the world.

“That someone in this house once felt them, or is feeling them so strongly now that I can, too.” He’s been aware of his empathic abilities since he was a young child. Although he does not act on them, he can still feel strong emotions. The strongest one is rage. It feels prickly under his skin when it’s not his own, like it doesn’t belong anywhere. These are different.

This feels like sickness and worry, spreading over his skin until it is all he is made up of.

“Good.”

Levi looks into the mirror, into those soft eyes. He wonders what drove her into taking her own life. Even in death she doesn’t seem like the person who would willingly do so. When he turns around, she’s gone. He doesn’t know why she’s so attached to him, usually ghosts can’t move from the area they died. Yet, Petra follows him like a stray dog, and he wonders why. 

He splashes some water on his face, wipes it with a towel, and heads back to where Erwin is now shaking hands with Reiss. “Thank you for your time,” Detective Smith says, his voice smooth and charming. He knows exactly how to say each word. 

“Yes, yes, of course. If you need anything else don’t hesitate to stop by.” Rod leads them to the front door and gently closes it behind them.

It’s a few moments of tense silence before either man starts talking. Levi does so first. “He’s definitely guilty of something,” he mutters, looking at the midday sun. It hangs high in the sky, bringing along with it the cool autumn air. 

“I believe so as well. He was too trusting too early on.”

The question of why Levi excused himself sits heavily in the air, but neither man moves to answer it. It hangs between them in the light fall breeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, I'm so overwhelmed by the feedback I honestly thought no one would like/read it ;A; I've started tracking the tags "solve me bend me break me" and "SBB3" on tumblr! (sbb3 instead of smbmbm because ew...BM). If you have anything you wanna say/show me just dump in there! If you want a more personal route, you can always come yell at me on [tumblr!](http://noyaplease.tumblr.com) As always, comments/kudos are appreciated and I love you guys so much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to remind y'all, I am tracking the tag 'SBB3' on Tumblr! You can also reach me on my blog (@noyaplease)! I would love to see anything you put in that tag!

Levi wakes quickly, sweat spreading over his skin. He hears the cheering still swirling in his head, the bandages around his skull finally being unwrapped. He can feel being tied down, the ritual sayings being directed towards him, the feel of eyes as everyone watched in morbid fascination. He knew what this was. He knew who this child was. He had to tell Smith. 

Levi’s fingers shake as goes back to the case file. Rod Reiss was definitely hiding something, and the fear Levi had felt in his home had something to do with the bones they had found. He had to try and talk to Petra somehow. She had the same case, the same formation of bones. She was the one who might have made sense of this.

At the same time, Levi has to prove it all. He knows he’s right, he can’t ever be wrong, but he has to prove it. He dresses in a plain white shirt and pants, barely combing his hair before leaving. He needs Smith’s help on this, and he somehow has to convince the other detective that he can see dead people. At least it’s October. The closer it got to Halloween, the weaker the veil between worlds got.

His phone rings three times before he answers it, voice snappy and terse. “Smith, I got a break in the case. Meet me at the station in twenty.”

“Levi, I was the one who called you.”

“Then make it quick.” 

“Right. We found another body. Looks like the same killer. We need you to make sure, but we’re pretty sure the bone found on this body is from the same body of the one you identified.”

“Where are you?”

“138 Lake Street.”

Levi rolls his eyes and sighs, leaning his head against the rest in his car. “The same Lake Street that’s less than five miles from Ross Reid’s house?”

Erwin gives a slight chuckle that’s the farthest thing from happy. He sounds frustrated. “That would be the one.”

“Be there in five.” Levi hangs up the phone and turns his sirens on, not caring for cars he almost hits and barely paying attention to pedestrians. The crime scene he arrives on is marked off with tape, and civilians are snapping photos as policemen try and push them back and threaten to arrest. They don’t take no for an answer.

Levi flashes his badge and makes his way into the alley, where Erwin is stopping a tech from touching the body. He comes up next to the large man and follows his gaze. In front of him is a half-rotted corpse, her eyes forever staring. In her mouth, which is wired shut, is another bone. This one is a phalange, most likely from the same finger they found at the first scene. It looks to be from the same time period, anyway.

The dead woman before him can’t be more than twenty-five. Her hair is mostly gone, spindly wisps just barely attached to her decomposing scalp. Her eyes, her face, the shape of her nose, he knows who this is. “Decomposition suggests she’s been dead for five years,” he says. There’s no emotion in his voice. “About twenty-five.”

Erwin looks down at the body. Her eyes, even milked over, have the color of someone he once knew. He wasn’t ever friends with her, but he respected her cheery attitude despite working around death. “Five years?”

Levi didn’t even look up. “Yes.”

“Petra Ral killed herself five years ago. Her hair was the same color, she matches the age. I’ll send a car to see if her grave has been disturbed.”

Levi nods and puts on gloves, carefully pulling the bone out of Petra’s mouth. It is old, he can see that, and it’s no coincidence that Petra was found with it. The more time passes, the more Levi thinks Petra’s death wasn’t a suicide. At least, not a suicide because of her mental state. She had gotten herself caught up in this somehow. She had been the one examining the bones from a couple years ago. From five years ago.

He carefully brushes the hair out of her face and stands. Petra Ral, a twenty-five-year-old medical examiner, did not deserve to die. “Smith, we need to make a pit stop.”

“Levi, we’re in the middle of an investigation.”

“I told you this morning I made a break in the case.” The break was that he had finally figured out the missing piece of the puzzle with something borderline magical, but that was not the point.

“Then what is it?”

“I fucking told you already, we have to stop somewhere. Tell your dog to drive back to the precinct, you’re riding with me.”

Erwin nodded and willingly got into the passenger side of Levi’s car. It was a random blue four-door, nothing conspicuous. It’s dark color ensured it would blend in with the night. Erwin’s head nearly reached the roof, and he winced whenever they went over a pothole.

Eventually, the two ended up in front of  _ Salem _ , a local witchcraft store. Levi parked the car and looked at the little place. It wasn’t a buy-your-herbs-here kind of place. He could feel it. The person who ran it was like him, at least in some way. Levi wasn’t a witch by any means, but he had a lot of the same qualities. He could tell a fake store from a store that meant business, and this one had no time for tea leaves or showy love spells.

“Levi, may I inquire as to why we’re here?” Erwin asked, raising an eyebrow at the small building beside them.

“Supplies.”

“I didn’t expect you to have a Wiccan belief,” Erwin says smoothly. He didn’t want to offend the agent, but he found the witchcraft thing to be kind of...peculiar. He is a detective. He spends days and nights trying to catch the bad guys. He can’t pretend to stop them with a wave of his hand or spend days scrying over a map. He has to be out on the field at all times, putting his life on the line whenever he went out.

“I don’t.”

With that, Levi gets out of the car and starts his walk to the door. Erwin begrudgingly follows him, curious as to what this had to do with a break in the case. The small shop smells like sage, and Erwin breathes it in. It almost makes him cough. Levi strides up to the front desk. The owner smiles. His hair is pulled into a tight ponytail, and a scar rests on his eyebrow. The skin where hair should be is bald, creating a lightning shape.

Levi pulls a list out of his pocket and hands it over to the man. It’s on a crinkled piece of register paper. “It should all be on there.”

The man raises an eyebrow and gives a low whistle. “Wormwood and mullein? You’re talking some serious stuff here. Sure you can handle it?”

Levi squares himself and looks the store owner in the eyes. There’s a challenge there. “February 4th, 1986. Need I go on, Samuel?”

The store owner, Samuel, widens his eyes and then scrambles to get all the items. “Yes, of course! I’ll get everything for you.” He runs into the back, practically sprinting to get out of Levi’s gaze. The smaller man just smiles slightly, and starts browsing the shelves.

Erwin watches where his fingers flit over titles. “What happened? On that day.”

“Can’t say. You’re a cop.”

“You’re an FBI agent, Levi. Anything you can’t tell me you shouldn’t know.”

“Fine, fine. Not like there’s any evidence left. There was a murder. I won’t tell you more than that.”

Erwin stood back as Levi paid for the items, not guessing what was in the bag. He would find out soon enough. At the moment, though, his mind was completely boggled. Levi, at first glance, did not seem like a religious man. In fact, he seemed like the type of person who would get drunk and piss on a church, to put it blankly. 

The motel they pull up to is dingy, yet Levi’s room is spotless. There is no dirt or dust. The bed is made, chairs pushed in, and the table is scrubbed clean. Even the towels in the bathroom are folded neatly on the sink. It’s meticulous cleaning, and Erwin wonders where that habit comes from. Levi clearly doesn’t take as much care of himself as he does his surroundings, with the ill fitted trousers and messy hair, so he wonders where the habit started. 

The brown paper bag slams onto the table, and Levi starts to unpack the contents. The first thing to come out is chalk, then herbs, and then five candles. He moves everything to the chair first and grabs the white chalk. His nimble fingers are intriguing. Erwin can’t take his eyes off them as they move across the wood. It’s not until he puts it down does Erwin realize that he’s drawn a pentagram inside of a circle.

Levi places the five candles on the five points of the star and then places a bowl in the middle of it, shoving the herbs inside. He lights the candles, and then sets fire to the herbs, and finally sits down on the chair. The candles burn black and the smoke from the herb fills up the room. Strangely, Erwin doesn’t feel like coughing.

Those nimble, slim, perfect fingers invade his hands and demand his hold. They intertwine and he can feel how cold Levi’s are. They’re ice. It oddly fits his gaunt face and pale skin. “Levi, you said you had a break in the case.”

“I do.”

He doesn’t offer any other explanation, just looks into the smoke of the burning leaves. Erwin can’t see anything, but by the change of Levi’s posture, he can. His fingers tighten around Erwin’s. “Petra Ral. You were the medical examiner before me. Your body has been moved, and I know you can feel it.”

Erwin sits stock still. “You’re insane.” The words come out calmer than he feels and he thanks the skies for that. He can’t believe the FBI sent a completely unhinged agent to assist them in a case like this.

“You’ve been following me. You’re tied with me, and it’s because of this case. I call upon you to show yourself, Petra.”

There’s a gust of wind in the room, and it’s strange because no windows are open. Another gust, and all the candles go out. The curtains are drawn, and no lights are on, so the room goes completely dark. Erwin tenses. He doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like not being able to see when a potentially unstable person is sitting across from him. The fingers around his tighten and it’s only then he remembers he’s still holding on. 

Levi’s shadow stiffens. He looks tense, about ready to snap. “Erwin, don’t move.” Levi takes a deep breath, his lips moving in a silent cant. “Petra, you are angry. Your grave has been disturbed.” He stops for a moment, and his head tilts, as if he’s listening. Erwin looks, but there’s no one there.

In the pitch black of the motel, there is nothing but the two of them. Levi looks towards the bed, which is still made neatly and tidily. “You know you are dead, Petra, and I need your help. I need you to tell me why you took that pill.” He goes quiet again.

“Levi, there’s nothing there!” The smaller man’s eyes fly towards him. He can feel that steely gaze set right on him, the one that challenges everything and anything. The one that will not be talked down to, or ordered around. Levi is a fierce man, Erwin knows, but this is beyond what is considered normal. This is beyond any guideline the police force and FBI has. 

He clamps down on Erwin’s hands even tighter. So tight the circulation is nonexistent. “Petra Ral, twenty-five years old, I give you permission to use my body. Use my body as a vessel for your wandering spirit and inhabit my mind. Uti mihi!”

Erwin feels Levi’s hold disappear. He hears the chair fall backwards. He hears the quiet breath of pain Levi lets out. He’s up and moving before his mind has a chance to catch up. Instinct makes him turn on the lights. Instinct has him running up to Levi, checking his pulse, putting an ear to his mouth. He is not breathing. His heart is not beating

Levi is dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, AO3 prohibits advertisement of money-making websites (ie patreon and ko-fi), but if you want to donate feel free to contact me! I would much appreciate the help and support. Thank you for reading, and as always, comments/kudos is appreciated! (BTW, the herbs Levi use in this chapter are Wormwood and Mullein, two things commonly used during necromancy/seance rituals!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update!!!! I promise I'll keep on schedule best I can. Also sorry I'm super bad at longer chapters, LMAO. oopsie. Thank you guys for being so patient and for all the great feedback! ILY <3

Erwin is halfway into calling 911 when a hand reaches for his phone. It grabs his wrist and clenches with something beyond human strength. Levi’s eyes snap open, and he looks directly into Erwin’s own. Except, they aren’t the same. They are the same grey, the same sharp beauty, but they do not have the same edge. They are complacent, something he is sure Levi never is. 

“Levi, let go.”

A small half-smile enters Levi’s face. It’s calm and serene. It takes Erwin’s breath away. Even in a matter of days, he has become used to the fact that Levi does not smile. His scowl is a permanent fixture on his face. Yet, this little smile, is beautiful. It lights up his face and Erwin finds himself wanting to kiss it. That thought shakes him a little, so he pushes it to the back of his mind and decides to ignore it until further notice.

“Levi, you’re hurt.”

Levi’s hand lets go of Erwin’s wrist, and he gets up. His small body stretches and then slumps into the chair, exhausted. “Detective Smith! It’s been quite a while!” He holds his hands up to his face, opening and closing them. “This Levi man… He is quite small, isn’t he?”

Even his voice is different. It’s higher pitched than it should be. He sits unusually, crossing his legs where he would usually spread them. He likes to take up space, tell people he’s there. Levi wouldn’t cross his legs and make himself look small.  “Levi, you hit your head. I think. Let me get you to a hospital.”

The form laughs. Despite the situation, it sounds beautiful. “Detective Smith, I’m hurt. You don’t remember me? Petra Ral. Levi offered his body for me to use. I’ve been following him, and this case. He’s quite an interesting man. So many big secrets in such a little body.”

“Levi, you—”

“October 27th, five years ago, you spilled hot soup on me. You felt so bad you got my clothes dry cleaned. A pink top and mint green skirt. Thank you, by the way.”

“How do you know that?

“Because it was me! Erwin, please, believe me. Look, I don’t have a lot of time. Levi is strong, especially so because of what he is. He’s fighting my spirit in this body. He gave me permission, but not for long. Don’t talk, just listen.” 

Erwin doesn’t want to believe it’s Petra. It can’t be, can it? Levi looks back at him, but it’s not  _ Levi _ . The behaviors are just too different. “Petra?”

“Exactly! Now, there’s things I didn’t get to tell you, Detective Smith. I had evidence connecting Rod Reiss to the murders five years ago. Ritual killings, once every five years. He needed three fresh sacrifices, and the mixture of past, present and future. I had hard evidence connecting him to all of it.”

Erwin sits down once more in the chair across the table. He doesn’t know whether to be shocked, confused, or afraid. “You had it figured out before all of us.”

Levi’s face contorts into a sad smile. “I did, Erwin Smith. There was a mole somewhere in the precinct. Reiss had eyes on me. He knew that I knew, so I hid. I researched the rituals. Every five years he needed virgin blood, and the younger, the better. He also needed representatives of past, present, and future. Which meant an old bone, the recently deceased, and a telling of the future. Bone divination.”

“I remember Levi telling me about that. The first day we met.”

“I found more evidence, all pointing his way. But he has eyes everywhere. H-he… He took my sister. She was only eight at the time. He said if I didn’t destroy everything, he would kill her. He would, Erwin. He sent me one of her toes. He had her and he had me, and he knew it. So I did. I destroyed everything.”

Erwin sighs and leans back in the chair, tilting his head up towards the ceiling. “You counted as everything, didn’t you?”

“It was my life over hers. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“I’m sorry, Petra.”

“Don’t be sorry. My body was a message to Levi. He knows what Levi is, and he will use it to his advantage. Bring Rod Reiss down, Erwin. Let my spirit rest.”

She smiles one last time before Levi’s body slumps, head bashing into the table. That startles him awake, and he jumps, the hard contours of his face back once again. He looks frazzled, eyes flitting around the room until they settle on Erwin’s. The familiar blue helps calm him down. He’s still breathing hard, hands shaking slightly. “Fill me in on what she told you at the bar. I need a drink.”

He stands, not waiting for Erwin to follow, and goes to the car. He can’t get his heart to calm down. It pounds in his chest. She had been  _ inside  _ him. She had read every thought he had ever had, every experience he had been through. She had seen it all. Even his mother, the one who could see ghosts at will, had never let one into her body. He knew he had to, to get Erwin to believe him. It was the right choice. He couldn’t regret it, not now. He couldn’t second guess himself.

***

An empty pitcher of beer rests between the two detectives. Levi slumps in his booth. The alcohol swims in his mind but doesn’t do anything other than make him tired. He’s not drunk, he knows. He never gets drunk. He drank practically the whole thing and still felt the crushing sense of reality. He wishes for the days where he drank so much alcohol he was borderline dying because at least the faces went away and the  _ begging pleading screaming yelling  _ stopped. 

Erwin’s eyebrow raises in a perfect fashion. A perfectly executed eyebrow raise. It seems everything Erwin Smith does is perfectly executed. “A seer?”

“Yes, you everlasting shitstain. A seer. I dream about dead people. Mostly angry ones. Murders. If I’ve seen it, it’s already too late.” He pulls out the sketchbook that never leaves his side. It’s almost full. “I can draw what I see, somehow. Reiss’s representation of the past is a boy from the Inca Empire. He was a child sacrifice. Back then, they picked kids to sacrifice to the gods for bountiful crops, wealth, rain, anything that would help them survive. These kids were in perfect health, well fed, and then drugged and left to die. They were born to die. It’s sickening.”

“Is this him?” Erwin asks, slowly pulling the sketch towards him. “His head…”

“The Incas worshipped mountains. They would hold sacrifices on the mountains and pray to the mountain gods. Sometimes kids, their skulls would be wrapped to make them look more like mountains. We call them coneheads now. It was done when they were babies by putting tight bandages around the skull to form the bone. It didn’t really hurt them, at least.”

Erwin sighs and traces the delicate drawings Levi’s created. The pencil rubs off on his fingertips. “Do you feel it? The deaths I mean. You dream about them so vividly, but do you feel them? The pain?”

Levi is surprised by Erwin’s string of questions. No one’s ever asked him that before. No one except Hanji knows, but no one has ever asked. It takes him more than a moment to think it over. “I don’t know. I might, in the dream, but I don’t by the time I wake up.”

“What is it triggered by?”

“Different things. Sometimes the cases I work, when I touch the bones or body. This boy, his spirit is strong. I had a vision when I touched it, which has never happened before. I think he’s trying to tell me something. The longer someone is dead the more the spirit fades, so it’s surprising that his is so powerful. I think he might be trying to help us.”

“Help?”

“Not all spirits are bad. There are good ones.” Levi thinks about his mom and the way he dreamt about her. He dreamt about the way she never woke up, about the love she had for him and his father. She was too kind a woman who didn’t deserve to rot away because of a tumor in her brain. He dreamt of her the day they put her in the ground, just a shell of her former self. The thing they buried didn’t even look like her.

“How is he trying to help us, then?”

“The rest of him is still with Reiss. He might be trying to protect whoever is in there with him. Petra said he needed three new sacrifices every five years. That’s three people who are on a hit list, Erwin. Three  _ kids _ .”

The detective puts his elbows on the table and finishes the one cup of beer he allowed himself. “We’ll need to be quiet about this. There’s probably still a mole in the precinct. Give me tonight to think about a plan.”

Levi stands and stretches, not missing how Erwin’s eyes fly to the exposed skin of his stomach.  So, the detective is interested? Levi resolves to handle that at a later date. “Meet me at the precinct at seven. For now, we pretend like we don’t have any new leads, and no one can know that we do.”

“Levi, wait. That day at Rod’s house. The way you rushed to the bathroom. Was it because you saw something?”

Levi sighs and pulls his jacket on. It’s too damn cold in this state. “No. I’m an empath. I can feel other people’s emotions if they’re strong enough. They take the place of the emotion I’m feeling right then, so it’s an all or nothing deal.”

“What did you feel there?”

Levi looks back at Erwin, no trace of amusement on his face. It is utterly neutral. “Absolute terror.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! AO3 prohibits the advertisement of money-making websites (ie ko-fi or patreon), but if you guys still want to support me please don't hesitate to contact me on Tumblr (@noyaplease) or Twitter (@etoshimacos). Writing fics takes up a lot of my time and I appreciate everyone who reads them. <3\. As always, comments/kudos are appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me??? Posting at a normal time?? What kind of alternate dimension??? Hello, everyone!! Can't believe I'm actually posting on time lmao!! Anyway, it's my birthday tomorrow!! I'm turning 18 and it's kind of crazy, honestly. Can't believe i have to be a productive member of society now smh. As always, i hope you enjoy!!

Rain pounds on the window as Erwin opens the door to his office. Thunder crackles as he calls out for Levi and Mike. Mike shows up first, and Erwin knows Levi will not be happy with the obscene height differences in the room. It gives him a good chuckle to see that bit of information make Levi seethe silently. It makes him more aggressive, too, though Erwin has no doubt Levi could take him down anyday. Under the clothes is all muscle and sinew, he can see that much. 

Levi shows up a few minutes later, the scowl back on his face. Erwin wishes to see the smile one more time. He wants to be the one to put it there. “I believe we have some matters to discuss,” Erwin says, leaving the door open. He’s speaking loudly enough so everyone can hear, but not overdoing it either. If the mole is listening, they’ll tune in. “We have a break in the case. We found conflicting evidence at Elizabeth Van Der Beek’s mansion.”

“She owns an entire chain of car sales lots, doesn’t she?” Mike asks, tuning out everyone around him. 

“Fucking scum,” Levi spits. He doesn’t have to act. The rich are the scum of America, he’s seen it first hand. His mother died when he was thirteen, but he was only eleven when she married his father. He went from homeless to living in a house bigger than Texas in a month. And all the kids at his school ever did was remind him how his mother was a gold digging slut. They would have fed him to the sharks if it meant they still got their tea and scones.  

“Yes, well, we’ll discuss this more in my office. Please, come in.” Erwin closes the door behind them and shuts the blinds. There are no chances here. They have to move as meticulously and precisely as possible. “Alright, so I’ve done some research into Rod Reiss.”

Levi makes a  _ tch  _ sound and lets out an angry exhale. “Why is the dog here? He could be the mole. You could have ruined this whole operation already, shit face.”

“Erwin fed me bad information,” Mike says. “He needed to prove I wasn’t dirty. He told me they found evidence confirming Reiss was at the crime scene and was keeping it in evidence locker B. I didn’t know he was lying. If I had been the mole, he would have caught me trying to destroy it. He didn’t.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Fine, the giant is gentle. Fuck off.”

Erwin decides not to reply with a  _ you asked _ . “Back to the point,” he says, gaining attention once more. “I dug through city records and the town hall, and I barely found anything on Reiss. Everything’s either been destroyed or he’s paid people to alter it. I did, however, manage to find his birth certificate and tax records from the last twenty years. Anything before that is gone.”

“What’s so special about his birth certificate?” Levi asks, peering at the papers on the table. 

Erwin watches those grey eyes scan over everything they can. “Because, according to this, Rod Reiss was born in 1802.”

Both Mike and Levi leaned over the table to get a look. “Erwin, where did you find this?” Levi asks, taking the paper in his hands. It’s frail and old, the edges torn and yellowed.

“I did some digging. His parents, listed on the birth certificate, were poor farmers. Barely anything to his name. No inheritance, no invention, no nothing. His wealth just appeared.”

Levi sighs and leans back, his head staring at the ceiling. “That’s why his sacrifice is so big. Wealth, influence, youth, he wants it all, and he’s paying the price for it.” His sharp eyes land on Mike, who is looking over the files. “You believe in ghosts, dog?”

“Not particularly,” Mike responds, still thumbing through the tax reports. “But I believe in something more. We can’t be the only ones here.”

Levi sits on that answer and touches the lighter on his thigh. It burns holes into his skin. He has resisted the urge to buy four packs and smoke every cigarette at the same time, but he doesn’t know how much that strength will hold out. He needed to smoke himself into oblivion until all he saw were hazy grey clouds. “We aren’t.”

Erwin packs up the files and puts them into a locked drawer in his desk. “If anyone tries to break into this, I’ll be alerted. For now, we have to pretend to investigate our lead. Levi and I will talk to Mrs. Van Der Beek. Mike, I need you on surveillance today. Look for anyone taking unusual breaks or poking into files they aren’t supposed to be looking at. We need to stay on top of those behaviors. Include Arlert if you have to, just tell him an...alternative reason.”

Levi lets out a deprecating laugh and kicks his feet onto Erwin’s desk. “What are you? Some sort of Commander? Please.”

“My father was an army tactician. Safe to say I have my fair share of training in that division. Now, Levi, will you be joining me?”

“Don’t shit your pants, I’m coming.” He takes his feet off Erwin’s desk and slips on his jacket, putting a scarf on after that. His skin burns from cold if he’s out for too long. At Quantico, he doesn’t have to worry about cold like this, it’s nice and toasty. Chicago is not. 

The drive to Elizabeth’s mansion shows the change in community. From poverty ridden streets to neatly trimmed bushes. The pavement isn’t crumbled and the streets have no potholes. The wrought iron gates open for them when Erwin flashes his badge. Levi prefers not to show it. He finds people are much more willing to open up to a seductive stranger when he puts at least three drinks in their system. He uses the power threat only when he has to, and he has to at times like this. 

Elizabeth Van Der Beek’s home seems like it is made of gold. The outside sparkles in its cleanliness, and even the front porch is spotless. It makes Levi feel at peace. The maid lets them in after they flash their badges, and her soft voice calls for her mistress. She is quite beautiful, the maid. Long blonde hair is tied up in a perfect bun, piercing blue eyes warm and inviting. She’s tall, too. She surpasses his height by at least two heads.

With a start, Levi realizes he finds her attractive because she looks like Erwin. From her smile to her long blonde locks, she bares a startling resemblance to the detective next to him. He had noticed Erwin’s lingering stares, the way he stood just a tad too close when they were alone. He had noticed the subtle advances Erwin had sent to him, but never had he thought to reciprocate them. He hasn’t let himself do anything more than a quick fuck in years, and he has a feeling Erwin isn’t a one-night-stand type of guy. Levi thinks, for once, he might be okay with that.

He snaps out of his stupor when Elizabeth descends the stairs. She has on a beautiful black dress, dipping just low enough to show some cleavage. She’s quite beautiful as well. It seems only pretty things are allowed in this household. Her smile reveals pearly whites and her voice is smooth. Levi wonders if this is where little Erwins are born. 

“Lila, who are these handsome men in my foyer?” The blush on her cheeks make her smile all the more radiant.

The maid looks between them and then back to Elizabeth. “Detective Smith and Agent Levi, ma’am. They have a few questions about recent missing persons. If you do not wish to answer, I’ll guide them out.”

Elizabeth walks up to them, dress trailing just the smallest bit behind her. Her skin is flawless, but Levi can see the creased concealer covering the bags under her eyes. “No, no! Lila, please fetch us some drinks. Gentlemen, would you follow me to the living room?”

“Thank you for speaking with us,” Erwin replies. His posture is perfect, his smile genuine. As genuine as it can get when it’s fake, at least. He makes sure it meets his eyes. Erwin Smith is a good actor. Levi can tell he’s had hours of practice. Maybe he did grow up in a home like this. Yet, what’s a rich boy doing as a cop?

Levi follows Erwin’s footsteps and sits with him across from. It feels too similar to when they first questioned Reiss, and this puts him on edge. “Mrs. Van Der Beek,” Levi starts, putting his hands on his knees.

“Please, call me Elizabeth. Mrs. Van Der Beek is my mother,” she smiles. Her mouth must hurt from how long she’s been keeping it out.

“Elizabeth,” he starts again. “We’ve noticed an increase of missing children around this time of year. Two have recently gone missing from areas around here. We were just wondering if you’ve noticed anything unusual? Any unusual behavior from someone in the area, or someone who is just a little more secretive than all your other neighbors?”

“Oh, dear! That’s so sad, those poor children.” She puts a hand to her chest and accepts the champagne Lila has brought out.

Levi takes it in his hand but doesn’t drink any. It was right then, when he said  _ missing _ , he felt it. A spike of fear. A spike of nervousness. He felt it jolt through his bones before it was tampered down. “Yes, it’s very unfortunate. We would appreciate your help, Elizabeth.”

Erwin smiles, the one he usually brings out for the receptionist. It’s whenever he needs a key to a place he shouldn’t have access to. With just a little charm, she always hands it over. He gives this charm to Elizabeth now, blue eyes practically shining. “Elizabeth, we would very much appreciate your help. Between you and me, the department is quite stumped as to why this pattern is occurring. We’ve found a correlation between and uptake in missing children and a five year time frame. Five years ago, that uptake happened, and we’re trying to stop it from happening again.”

Levi feels the nervousness and fear creep slowly back into her skin. Elizabeth shifts in her seat. He feels the need to hold Erwin’s hand, and figures that Elizabeth craves touch for comfort. “I don’t think I’ve noticed anything unusual around here, detective.”

“Can you think back to five years ago, Elizabeth? If you can give us even just what little you may know, I would owe you a personal favor.” He turns that smile up just one more notch. Levi feels the sharp sting of arousal go through him amidst the nervousness before it’s gone. Damn, Erwin’s good.

Elizabeth’s hands shake just the slightest as she pushes a strand of hair away from her face. “I’m sorry, detective, I really don’t remember anything.”

Levi is the one who pushes forward this time, his eyes not nearly as nice as Erwin’s. They are sharp and calculating. This woman is guilty of something, he is sure of it, but he doesn’t know what. “Elizabeth, you own a motor company, correct?”

“Yes, I do. Freelance Motors is mine.”

“You are also head of the archaeological society as well, right? You work closely with historians and the museum to bring back artifacts?”

“Yes, but I don’t see how this is rel—”

“How closely do you work with Rod Reiss on those trips?”

And it’s back tenfold. The nervousness has turned into full blown anxiety and the fear has turned into terror. She keeps her face calm, though, only a crease between her brows a sign that she is disturbed. “I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Do you rent equipment out to Mr. Reiss?”

“I cannot give out that information, agent. My customers expect a level of privacy.”

Levi forces himself to calm down. Erwin’s knee touches his in some sort of reassurance, and he realizes his leg had been jittering. He had let her emotions rule him too much. He had almost let them control him. Taking a few deep breaths, Levi pulls his own back to the forefront, forcing himself to ignore the ones crawling around his skin. “Yes, I am sorry. Thank you for your help, Elizabeth.”

Erwin smiles again, placing his full champagne glass on the table in front of him. “Thank you indeed. Please, call me if you think of anything else.” He hands her his neat card and stands, straightening himself out to his full height. 

Levi stands as well, and although his height is nowhere near Erwin’s, the cutting look he sends Elizabeth’s way conveys the message. The gears are already churning and he needs paper, a desk, and the files that Arlert kid dug up when they first started questioning. She had been fine the first time because they hadn’t been asking the right questions. Now he knew, and she knew he knew. They had a small window of time to find connections before whoever was the mole in the department was given the information.

It wasn’t until they were back in the car and through the gates did Erwin voice his concerns. “You felt something in there.” It was not a question, it was a statement. It was a statement saying Erwin had already perceived his usual behavior and saw something different back at the mansion. The fact that he was so quick at figuring that out made Levi unsettled. 

“She was nervous and frightened. Guilty. I need to look into some things back at the precinct.”

“I am concerned with how close she may be to Reiss. Think we might have accidentally blown our cover?”

Levi snorts. His laugh is deprecating and anything but joyful. “Smith, our cover was blown the second we stepped into Rod Reiss’s house. It was just a matter of how much we knew. We have a small window before news gets back to the mole, whoever it is. I need you and Mike trying to figure out who it is while I run analysis.”

“Analysis on what, Levi? What do you have going on in there?” 

“It’s not just Reiss. It’s her, too. She’s a part of this. Somehow. And if she is, I need to know who else is. Birth certificates, tax records, family history, business relations, it’s all there. Our time window is closing and it’s closing fast. I’ll run the analysis while you find the mole.”

“Fine, but… Call me if you need any help.”

“I won’t.”

The car stops and Levi gets out, walking back into the precinct and going to the file room. He would probably have to make a stop at the courthouse, but that could wait. He grabs an armful of files and sits down at an empty desk, starting to make work of them.

His eyes scan over every piece of information, not missing one word. He’s trained to do things like this, to do things under a time crunch. He does his best work under pressure, and Christ is he under pressure now. He flags anything that is useful to him and makes notes, going as far as to start reading microfiche articles about different companies working together. He is thorough and fast, but even with his speed, hour after hour slips away from him. Afternoon slips into night, and night slips into early morning. His head bobs as he highlights new information and puts piece after piece together.

The pen in his hand slips, and Levi falls asleep, unable to stay awake any longer

***

Erwin is the first one to come in the next morning. He makes sure to be the first one in. He’s walking to his office when he hears something move. Instantly, he’s on alert, years of training forcing him to be stealthy and think about his actions. One hand is on his holster, the other firmly at his side as he silently steps towards the noise. What he finds makes him relax, and a soft smile enters his features.

Levi is asleep at the desk, his head resting lightly on the back of the chair. His face is devoid of angry stares and his hard set frown. It’s neutral now, lighter in sleep. He looks at peace. The sight of his beauty punches him in the gut. He  _ likes  _ Levi. He wants to take him on a date, make him laugh, pull him away from the crazy mess he is way too involved in. He wants to keep him safe.

The thought settles down on Erwin and he realizes he doesn’t hate it. It feels good, actually, to want to protect something. He has no one, and he thinks, someday, Levi would be a nice face to come home to. But he doesn’t let his thoughts get that far ahead of him. 

Papers are strewn about the desk, notes written across pages, notebook sitting wide open. The pen twitches in Levi’s hand, like he’s still trying to write something. Gently, Erwin shakes his shoulder. “Levi, wake up,” he whispers.

It’s sudden, the way Levi wakes up. He jerks at Erwin’s touch and before anyone can breathe, Erwin is stumbling back, hands flying to his nose. Blood runs down his skin and he grabs a tissue from one of the neighboring desks to clean it up. “God, what type of reaction is that?!” Erwin yells, cleaning up the mess on his face.

Levi is awake now, no time to sleepily yawn or stretch his muscles. He’s on alert, looking for any type of threat. When all he sees is Erwin shoving a tissue up his nose, he relaxes. When did he start relaxing at the sight of the detective? He runs his hands over his face, clearing his vision. “Don’t startle me awake next time,” he snaps, standing for the first time in hours. His heart still slightly pounds in his chest, the adrenaline of someone touching him while he was completely defenseless rattling his nerves. At least his reaction time hadn’t slowed down.

“What did you find last night?”

Levi moves some papers aside to review his findings. He had kept finding connections between different people in the gated community. He wants to tear those gates down, show the world who those people truly were. He wanted to see them crumble. “There’s six of them, including Reiss and Elizabeth,” Levi says, pointing to a map. He put dots where each house lie. 

“How are they all connected?”

“Elizabeth lends equipment to Reiss. That’s what first led me on. That, and the fact she was quaking in her heels. Reiss is connected to everyone, whether it’s renting tools, using their resources, or using them for power. All of it ties back to him. Whatever fucking ring their in, he’s the leader.”

“Why six? Why only those six?”

Levi scrambles to find tax reports. He spent hours combing through each and every one. “Within that community, those six have the highest income. Before Reiss moved there, they were the lowest. Funny how Elizabeth’s company suddenly boomed, isn’t it? That’s why the rituals are so close together. There’s so many of them.”

Erwin’s eyes flit from point to point on the map, and he leans slightly over Levi to get a better look. He decides not to notice the way Levi doesn’t move away like he would have at the time of their first meeting. He decides not to notice that Levi smells like coffee, and that it smells good. “Do you have a marker?”

The shorter man rummages for a moment before coming up with a red marker. “What’re you seein’, Smith?”

Erwin uncaps the marker and places the tip on the paper, making quick marks between the points. When he finishes, he places the marker back on top of the organized mess. 

Levi lets out a yell of frustration and sweeps everything to the ground. His muscles are visibly tense and the anger in his eyes is enough to make even Erwin quite nervous of going near him. He slams back from the desk and grabs his jacket, barking out that he’s going for a walk.

Red marker connects five points on the map, now discarded on the floor. Each house sits on the point of a pentagram, with Rod Reiss’s mansion laying directly in the middle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading!! As you know, AO3 prohibits advertisement of money-making websites such as Patreon or Ko-Fi...but technically...I'm not promoting....if u happen to go to ko-fi.com/etoshima...i wouldnt be mad or anything. It would be an amazing birthday present and show some amazing support for this fic!!! As always, kudos/comments are appreciated! Thank you guys for all the feedback so far. Seriously, I light up like a Christmas tree whenever I get a comment notification, it makes me so happy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! As you may have noticed, I'm posting a day early! I'm going to a con this weekend (Anime Midwest) and i won't be able to post on Friday, so you guys get the treat of an early chapter! <3\. Just a reminder that I am tracking the tag 'SBB3' on tumblr if you ever wanna dump anything in there! AND WOW!! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR 1K!!!! Best bday present tbh.

Levi curses under his breath as he enters the coffee shop. The heat blasts his frozen cheeks and he’s thankful for how hot it is in the quaint shop. He walks up to the barista and gives an order, patiently waiting for it to be ready. The place is already bustling about at such an early hour, mostly the local college kids taking advantage of the free wifi. He sits down at one of the open spaces and pulls up a case on his tablet, since he had left all his files at home. He prefers going over files on paper where he can make markings and the such, but this will have to be enough for the time being. 

The picture before him is of a neatly laid out skeleton. It’s on one of his lab tables. Hanji is giving it bunny ears.  _ Her  _ bunny ears, he realizes. She’s postpubertal, at least. Doesn’t make it any better, but knowing she didn’t die a child gives him the smallest peace of mind. Levi places his fingers on the tablet and spreads them, zooming into part of her arm. Spiral fractures. Multiple. He’ll find healed fractures all over her ribs, spanning over most of her lifetime, he knows. He doesn’t even have to look at the x-rays on the next pages. She is an abuse victim. Case closed. Why does he have to waste his time on this?

He picks the next file in his email, and this peaks his interest much more. A small child, no older than six. It seems the world cannot stop killing innocence. He picks up the tablet and brings it closer, imagining that he is there in the lab room. He officially stopped being a worker there when he became an agent, but that lab is his home, and the staff still looks to him for orders. He is in no shape to lead anyone, but that is his family there, and he could never abandon them for a gun and badge.

Which is why he still gets first priority in cases. The new head, Pixis, is not very happy with it but it’s not like he can fire the best in his lab, either, which is all of Levi’s crew. He only picked the best. Only people who could keep up with him could work there. He had no time for lagging questions or conclusions he had already reached himself. 

The skeleton—the  _ boy _ on the table is only a few years old, body probably picked at by bugs and animals. He was found in the woods, near an entrance to an underground tunnel. Somewhat famous, the tunnel held a large portion of the town’s homeless population. It was too big for such a town. Too big for a town with the FBI’s headquarters in it. People were born and died down there, fending for themselves, forging their own way. It was a community built on thievery and lies. The kid had blunt force trauma to the back of the skull, most likely caught trying to steal something. Food, probably. He just wanted to eat, and he was killed for it.

The boy’s bones show extreme malnourishment and lack of Vitamin D. He could be older than his bones look, but Levi would have to be there to find out. Lack of Vitamin D can stunt growth, he’s firsthand proof of that. Not that he was meant to be very tall since both of his parents were of average height, but he is still shorter than genetics meant him to be. He looks at the boy, and thinks about how easily that could have been him. He was born in that tunnel and he could have so easily died in it like generations past.

But he got out. He clawed his way to the top, breaking nail after nail until his fingers were just bloody stumps. He was not going to die in a place so  _ filthy _ . And he dragged his mother out with him. His beautiful mother, who was as much of a sun as the giant ball of gas in the sky. She brightened everywhere she went. Children in the tunnel went to her for food when they hadn’t eaten, and she gave up her own portions to feed them. She was more of a communal mother, but his nonetheless.

They lived in a home, above ground, until she met Frederick. A rich name for a rich man. He was a good man. Good to Levi and good to his mother. He only had her for two years before the damn tumor took her. He never believed in her “voodoo stuff” as he would call it, but he believed in  _ her _ . And he believed in Levi. He saw potential where others saw a brat who picked a fight with anything that moved. Problem was, living in the Underground (as most people called the tunnel), meant he had to fight for what was his, and he was  _ good at it _ . He was fast and strong, small and unpredictable, and he beat the little rich assholes faster than they could speed dial their daddies.

Frederick saw that, but he also saw Levi’s straight A’s. He saw Levi slaving away for hours at a time on his homework, taking advanced class after advanced class and topping all of them. He saw a soldier where everyone else saw a lost cause, and for that, Levi calls him father. Not for his riches, but for his belief. Frederick believed in them, so Levi believed in him. And when Levi turned twenty-two, and Frederick was put in the ground because of a drive-by, he believed he would catch the fucking bastard who did it, so he became an agent. 

Without him Levi probably would have ended up on the wrong side of the bars, and for that, he is thankful. Looking at this little boy gives him some sort of relief. It could have so easily been him.

Sighing, the agent puts down the tablet and picks up his phone, calling his old co-worker. Hanji Zoe was the only one in the lab crazy enough to work side by side with him, and it had almost gotten them both killed multiple times. Yet, they never stopped. Their drive to find the truth almost ran them both into the ground. 

They pick up on the third ring.”Levi! Do you know how long I’ve waited for a call? It’s been  _ weeks!  _ Did you get my emails? Did you look at the cases? We’ve got a lot of work to do when you get back. Also, Pixis is  _ not  _ happy you’re overshadowing him. Again. When are you coming back! Sonny and Bean miss you!”

Levi has taken advantage of the way people here speak at normal speeds and finds himself struggling to keep up with Hanji’s. “Hanji, Sonny and Bean are rats.”

“Rats have feelings!”

“Why are you sending me case closed files? Abuse victim, thief. Why are you wasting my time on bare level police work?” He sighs and takes a sip of his coffee. It’s doing nothing to wake him up and even less to get rid of the crick in his neck. He is getting far too old to be falling asleep in desk chairs. 

Hanji falls silent for a few heartbeats. “They were both murdered, Levi. That’s our job. To find the killer, even if it’s boring.” Their voice is cautious and barely above a whisper.  

Levi looks back at the files. Two people killed because of circumstances out of their control. A child born into darkness and a teen brought up in hell. Two kids who didn’t ask for this. “Right. Let’s start with the girl.”

“Tracy Dunlap. Say her name.”

With that, Levi smiles. Hanji is trying to humanize him and the case. He says the skeleton, the boy, the girl, the pile of fucking bones dirtying his counters. He rarely ever says the name of the victims because then they are  _ victims  _ and not just another case to solve. There are too many for him to grieve, and if he grieves for one, shouldn’t he grieve for them all? Levi doesn’t have enough emotion for that. “Tracy. Tell me.”

“Long-term abuse. I’m sure you’ve already seen all the fractures. She had cigarette burns up and down her arms. Father is dead, but she’s got a step-father. He’s in custody now. We’re also looking at the boyfriend. She was beat to death with a bat and we found one at both houses. Moblit is testing them now to see if either have blood on them.”

“And the boy?”

“John Doe. No birth certificates match his approximate birthdate. We’ll need you here to get a real age. All the malnourishment on this boy… He could be forty for all we know.”

“I’ll be back soon, shitty glasses.”

“How’s everything in Chicago? Have you been sleeping? Any dreams?”

Levi takes another sip of his coffee before answering. When he first told Hanji, they wanted to study his activity when he was sleeping. Nightmares cause increased brain activity during REM sleep, and Hanji wanted to see what Levi’s looked like. He let them on a night they looked over a rather gruesome case. Usually, with cases like those, Levi would dream. He would see the way they died, who had done it, the last thing they saw. It was just a matter of proving it after that.

So, he let them. Hanji came up to him the next morning with an entire cup of espresso and shaking hands, note after note scribbled down, some even haphazardly scrawled on their own skin. “You died.” That was the only thing they said to him, chart shaking in their fingers.

Levi had taken the chart and looked at it. They were right, in a sense. His brain activity went mute less than an hour after he had fallen asleep, and stayed that way until he woke up. He should have been dead. No one could have that type of reading. Yet, he did. Something out there didn’t want his abilities to be recorded. Something out there stopped science from invading him.

“A few,” he says. “A ghost, too.”

“Oh? That’s surprising. You’ve only seen one once before, right?”

“Yeah, I—” He’s cut off by the sound of sirens behind him. A lot of them. It gets the attention of other patrons in the café.

“Levi? What is it?”

“Hold on.” He watches the fire trucks with critical eyes, hoping they don't turn left. To the right is the rest of the neighborhood, their little downtown away from Chicago’s true downtown. Their little rows of shops and grocery stores. He watches, and hopes it turns right.

The blaring sirens and piercing wails turn left. The left, where the only building on the row is the precinct. The left, where all the evidence is. “Hanji, I gotta go.” He shoves everything back into his bag as fast as he can and  _ sprints _ to the precinct, hoping beyond hope that he’s not too late.

Large tufts of smoke fill the sky as Levi approaches. The firemen have already arrived, trying to contain the flames. But it’s not only in the building, it’s around the trees surrounding it. It’s spreading fast, or it started on the inside and out. They have to contain it before they go in without abandon. If it spreads, it can burn down the entire neighborhood. Levi surveys the area but people are so goddamn tall and  _ in the way  _ that he can’t make a good head count.

It’s Mike who finds him first. “Is everyone out?” Levi asks, looking at people coughing and those who are receiving oxygen. 

Mike hesitates in answering, his large body full of apprehension, eyebrows drawn tight in concentration. “Erwin is trapped inside. He went back in to help the others out, but he didn’t come out after the last one. He had to be the goddamned hero.” Worry for his best friend is thick in his voice. He and Erwin had been together since the academy. They are brothers.

Levi takes off his bag. Then, he undoes his jacket. And then he tears a strip of cloth from the bottom of his jacket. “They won’t get to him on time.”

“Levi, you can’t be serious! You’ll get yourself killed!”

Levi doesn’t think that would be such a big price to pay. Erwin deserves to live longer than he does. He has  _ compassion  _ and  _ joy  _ and a will that keeps him on the force. These are things that takes Levi days to conjure, feelings long forgotten in the bottles of whiskey he drank and cigarettes he put to his lips. He will not let this beautiful, smart, amazing man die because of one goddamn fire. It startles him that he cares this much. “He’ll come out alive, Mike. He will.” 

With that, Levi ties the piece of cloth around his neck and runs in. He is small and fast. The firemen cannot catch him in time. He’s dampened with sweat almost the second he steps in. He ducks down, catching the last bit of breathable air there is. He uses precious amounts of it to call, “ _ Smith!” _

He gets a cough back. A big cough that rattles his bones. “Levi, I’m here!” The voice is weak but loud.

The smaller man follows the voice towards the filing room. A bookcase has collapsed, trapping Erwin underneath. It’s big and metal and  _ heavy _ . “Is anything broken?” Levi asks, hands gripping the edges of one of the shelves. If he concentrates, ignores the pain, he’ll be able to lift it. 

“No, but I’m caught on something. I can’t get out.” Erwin coughs again, his lungs rattling in his throat. He’s being slowly smothered by the smoke. He can’t breathe, and he knows in a few minutes, Levi won’t be able to, either.

“Take this.” Levi unties his pseudo-mask and ties it around Erwin’s face, glad that it’s dampened with his sweat. 

“Levi, you can’t lift it! Leave me! Get out of here!”

“Shut up, Smith.” He grips the edges of the bookcase and places his feet shoulder width apart. He needs as much balance as he can get. Levi pulls his shirt up to his nose and takes in the biggest breath he can manage, nearly coughing it all out again. The metal is burning with the heat of the fire, and he can feel his hands become raw in moments. He starts to lift.

It’s heavy. It’s heavier than any weight he’s lifted in the gym and he can feel his muscles straining. He can’t just lift it to get Erwin out, because he’s caught on something. He has to put it back against the wall. He has to lift it above his head and he’s running out of air.

Levi nearly passes out at the exertion when he lifts it above his head, one foot taking a step to balance himself out. What’s more than the exertion, is the pain. It radiates over his left shoulder and shoots down his back and arm. It’s overwhelming and he nearly loses his balance, but damn if he gotten this far to give up. With the momentum, it’s easy to put the bookcase against the wall. It lands with a heavy  _ thump  _ and his eyes quickly scan the floor to see where Erwin is caught.

His body is covered in piles of burnt and dirty papers, and his skin is covered in soot. The heat drenches Levi’s back in sweat and he tries to suck in another breath. What little air he gets is coughed back out, but he can’t let himself be brought down by it. He needs to get out. 

Erwin’s ankle is caught in between a file cabinet and a box. He can’t slide his foot out, it must be too heavy for him to kick aside. Ignoring the damage he did to his body, Levi uses the adrenaline rush he has to move the box as well. His body is in shock, adrenaline blocking out the pain. It won’t last for much longer, and if it does, he could die.

“Smith, can you stand?”

Erwin is silent below him. Levi drops beside him, checking his pulse before anything else. It’s faint, but it’s still there. The mask isn’t wet enough to leave all the smoke out. He can’t breathe. Erwin Smith is suffocating. 

Levi smacks his cheek. “Smith! Smith, wake the fuck up you bastard! Stay with me!” He slaps him again, but it does nothing. “You’re not dying today, Erwin.” He bends to one knee, giving himself leverage and balance, but it won’t be enough. Erwin is twice his size and over twice his weight. With muscles shaking from effort, Levi grabs Erwin’s wrist and bicep, lifting the large man over himself. 

He aligns Erwin’s head with his left shoulder, and his hips with his right, so the man is sprawled across his back. Using his right hand, Levi places it under Erwin’s legs, and then grabs the detective’s wrist, bringing thigh and wrist together. It leaves Levi’s left arm free and distributes the weight so they can maybe make it to the door. But Levi is small, he’s injured, and he’s running out of time. He can do it. The fireman’s hold is made for things like this. He has to make it. He  _ has  _ to. 

So, Levi starts walking. With Erwin’s dead weight and his own injured shoulder, he starts to walk. The air is leaving his lungs and he can’t breathe, but he walks. Step after agonizing step, Levi walks towards the front door. The fire licks at his heels, wanting to feed on him, and he barely outruns it. It steals bits of his calf. The sunlight from the door reaches his face. The cold air of outside feels like a small heaven. His shoulder is on fire, and heat gathers on his skin, but he wills the strength to keep Erwin on top of him from the deep recesses of his body.

He uses the last bit of adrenaline to burst out the front door. Stray drops of water meet his face and he sucks in air so fast he chokes on it. Unceremoniously, Levi dumps Erwin onto the ground, not finding the energy to wince when he makes a loud  _ thump _ on the cement. 

There’s people all around him trying to shove an oxygen mask in his face and ask if he’s okay and berating him for how incredibly stupid he is. He hears none of them and all of them at once. He can’t make out their voices but hears jumbles of sounds. His eyes squint at the sunny morning like he’s seven again and he’s seeing daylight for the first time. It hurts. Everything just hurts so fucking much. 

Levi sinks to the ground, pushing away the hands that are trying to touch him. He coughs and looks over at Erwin’s comatose form, which is being carted off on a gurney, Mike trying to get information out of a first responder. Erwin is safe. He can rest.

He can rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for new readers, I post every Friday! Comments/kudos are appreciated! just so you know like i would die for anyone who comments on this fic jus sayin


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY IM LATE!!! I started full time work this week so I've been kinda dead because i have to wake up at 4:30 every morning ;A; I'm gonna try and catch up with writing tomorrow so I have things up and running again. Thanks for being so patient!! <3

Levi wakes up in a hospital bed. The beating of his heart is the first thing he hears. His throat feels like someone rubbed sandpaper through it. A cough rattles its way through him and his chest throbs. His vision is blurry, eyes unfocused, and he can hardly see anything. He rubs them, and finds an IV in his arm. It jabs when he accidentally bends his elbow too much.

“You’re awake,” a voice says. It’s a voice he’s relieved to hear. He wonders when Erwin became a safe thing for him.

“You’re alive, Smith,” he says back, training his blurry vision on the detective. It evens out as he blinks, and Erwin comes into view. He’s freshly shaved, hair slicked back as usual, and dressed in casual clothing. Jeans and a t-shirt that’s working too hard against his chest. There’s no more soot on his face, no pain anywhere on his features. Levi notices he’s leaning to the right, and figures he must have some sort of ankle injury. For a guy who had a bookcase dropped on him, he looked pretty well.

“I’m surprised you’re lucid, with the amount of drugs they have you on.” Erwin smiles and steps just a bit closer. He hobbles just in the slightest.

Levi looks around the room instead of Erwin trying to hide his injury. Single, no roommate. That’s nice. He never did play well with others. He hates hospitals. There are too many ghosts in them—figuratively and literally. “How long have I been out?”

“About a day.”

“Hand me the chart?”

Erwin nods and picks up the doctor’s chart from the bottom of the bed. It’s filled with badly scrawled notes and pages of injuries. Levi had gotten them all because of him. He had almost died so Erwin could live.

Levi grabs it gently, minding his shoulder, and looks over it. It’s all things he had expected. His superior labrum had torn, posterior and anterior. It’s more commonly known as a SLAP tear. It would take a few weeks to get over that one. His lungs were filled with smoke, throat slightly scorched. A second-degree burn covered a good portion of his calf, but it would heal, no skin grafts needed. Just a tick above first degree and minimal scarring. He’s lucky that’s the only place he was burned. “I’ll live,” he says, putting the chart down. He’s in pain, even with the drugs, but it’ll fade.

“Levi, you could’ve been killed. Do you know how reckless you were?”

“We’re both alive, Smith. No use dwindling on the what-ifs or could-haves.” He had spent too many nights looking down the barrel of a gun thinking about those. When he was young, too young, everything was lost. Mother, Father, Isabel, and the damn faces haunting his every waking hour because he didn’t know how to control it. Every time he pulled his gun he imagined it going into his own head. But Mother, Father, Isabel believed in him, so Levi believed in them. Belief was all he had back then. He had to believe in something better. Now, staring at Erwin, he thinks he’s found it.

“I’m not quite sure how. You shouldn’t have been able to lift that bookcase and especially not over your head. It’s physically impossible.”

“Stronger than I look.” He’s tired. Impossibly so. He wants to go back to sleep for another hundred years and forget about real world responsibilities. The bed he’s in is impossible to get out of. “The evidence? Was it all destroyed?”

“Yes. Even the map. I’m sorry, Levi. I couldn’t save any of it. I tried to, but the bookcase… I’m lucky I wasn’t killed when it fell on me.”

“Yeah, well, its was a bitch to pick up.”

Erwin sighs and moves closer to the bed. Levi looks so small, dwarfed by himself and the sheets. He’s drowning in them. He looks, with greasy hair and face still covered in soot, like a child. He doesn’t like the idea of this strong man being locked away by IVs and medical charts. Levi tore himself apart so Erwin wouldn’t suffocate to death. “Why did you go back in for me?” The question comes tumbling out and it’s the first time Erwin hasn’t picked his words since he started talking.

“This case has taken enough lives, Erwin. You weren’t going to be the next.”

Despite the situation, Erwin smiles. He takes Levi’s hand in his. It’s so small. So thin and nimble, his fingers look impossible next to his. Erwin makes Levi look like a child and he wonders how such a man can be squished in a body so small. “You called me Erwin.”

Levi’s eyebrows furrow. He hadn’t meant to do that. “Whatever, shithead.”

“Levi? Can I ask you to do something for me?” The smile plays at his lips and it’s one he’s never worn before. It is not one he has catalogued and put away and he thinks Levi will never be something he can predict.

“What?”

“Kiss me?”

Levi takes his hand from Erwin and fists it into his shirt, bringing the detective closer. A small smirk shadows itself on his lips. “Thought you would never ask, Smith.”

It’s there that they share their first kiss. With Levi leaning up and Erwin bending down, Levi’s hand firmly between them. It hurts Levi’s shoulder and Erwin has to put pressure on his ankle but it’s so worth it. When they pull away, Levi is breathing hard, his lungs not quite up to such an anaerobic activity.

“That was… I’d like to do that again, sometime. Not here.”

Levi lets out a huff and sits back, taking a few deep breaths before answering, “So we’re back to square one?”

“What?”

“On the case.”

Right. The case. Erwin tucks away the little part of him that’s disappointed about Levi not saying yes. It’s the part of him that can still feel hope that realizes he never said no, either. “Evidence wise, yes. I went to check the evidence lockers and morgue, too. Neither of them were touched by the fire, just smoke damage, but anything connected to the case is gone. Evidentiary, we’re back at the start line. The justice system can’t help us anymore, unless another body shows up.”

Levi picks at the IV in his arm. He needs it, he’s not at full strength yet, but he wants to rip it out. He hates the feeling of a needle in his arms. He watched too many people die for that reason. “It’s almost time for the sacrifices. I have a feeling they’re going to be held on Halloween. It’s one of those days that the veil between the human world and the Other is thin. Well, more like it doesn’t exist. It’s a powerful day, and Reiss needs all the power he can get.”

“The Other?” Erwin sits in the overstuffed vinyl chair. Weeks ago, if someone told Erwin they could see ghosts, he would recommend them to the best shrink in town. Now, he wonders how many mediums out there are real. He wonders if all of them end up like Levi: haunted by their own heritage.

“That’s what my mom called it. She was a lot more powerful than I was. She could actually communicate with ghosts. I can only see them in passing, if they’re strong enough. The Other is the world they’re in. It’s not ours, but close, I think. I don’t really know.” He had never really talked about this before, not even with Hanji. He never got to before his mother died. She didn’t have time to teach him, if he was ever meant to have these abilities at all. Would he have inherited them at puberty, or would it have come in if she died at a nice, old age? He’ll never know.

“Do you ever control what you see?” Erwin is fascinated by Levi’s abilities, but he also knew this was not the time to poke and prod.

“No. They show me what they can and I just watch. That’s my job. I see for them.”

“A literal seer.”

“That’s me.” Levi is exhausted even more by the conversation. He wants to be out of this hospital but also never move. “I dreamed here. Always do in hospitals.”

This time, Erwin thinks Levi is sharing because he has to. He has no one else to tell, and some part of Erwin feels honored that he’s this person Levi can trust. That kiss was amazing, fantastic, everything he could have wanted, but this is the real Levi. From the way he used his tongue, Erwin knows Levi has experience in sex. A lot of it. But he thinks trust is a foreign concept to the smaller man. “What did you see?”

“A woman. It wasn’t too long ago, maybe five years. She was in here for a lung collapse, but the doctors suspected the boyfriend was abusive.” Levi takes a break to get his breath even. That kiss had literally taken it away. His lungs would take awhile to heal fully, and with his injuries, he wasn’t going on the field anytime soon. Which meant he would be stuck behind a desk while Erwin and Mike took down Reiss. Took down _his_ case.

He looks down at his hands. There’s bandages over his fingers, where they burned slightly from the scorching metal. He can still feel the metal in his hands, and silently curses himself for doing something so stupid. He could have gotten them both killed.

“And was he?”

Erwin’s voice snaps him out of his thinking and he remembers he was talking. Right. His dreams. “He was. The doctors, they can’t do anything if the victim doesn’t report a crime, and she was too scared. She loved him, but she was so scared of him.  She was arguing with him one night, in here. She threatened to go to the police. He waited until she fell asleep, and woke her up right before he did it.”

Erwin settles against his chair, hands splayed out on the arm. It’ll anger him that they can’t catch the guy who killed an innocent woman. He should rot in prison. “He wanted her to watch.”

Levi nods, looking out the window. It’s raining outside, still not quite cold enough for snow. “He put air in her IV. It’s incredibly hard to trace, almost impossible. She had a heart attack. No one saw him do it, the cameras didn’t pick up the action, and he screamed for help when she started going into cardiac arrest. He orchestrated it all, and he made her watch him do it. He made sure she was scared and helpless in the last moments of her life.”

It’s then, with that little extra anger, that Erwin can see the lingering effects of being a seer. Levi lives and breathes nothing but death. He sees it in his sleep, in his waking hours. He is consumed by it, and it tears at him. It deteriorates him until he can’t think of anything else. The only way for him to stop being surrounded by death is to die himself, and Erwin wonders if that’s why Levi ran into the burning building with no second thought. “Sounds like a psychopath to me.”

“Probably was. An innocent girl died either way, and her killer is still free. I don’t even know his name.”

“He’s long gone, but the others aren’t, Levi. Halloween is in one week. We have one week to catch Reiss and save those kids. Focus on those kids. They’re still alive, and we can save them.”

“We _will_ save them,” Levi replies.

Erwin has never seen such determination in someone’s eyes. Those cold, neverending eyes had so much emotion in that moment that it nearly knocked the breath out of the detective. Erwin can feel himself smile. Levi’s right.

They _will_ save them. He won’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got good news this weekend about my novel, so I've been in a really good mood as of late! I love you all and as always, kudos/comments are appreciated!! <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW WHEW ITS BEEN A BIT. The reason is because, unfortunately, my laptop died. And by died i mean my companion of seven year's keyboard fell off. RIP in peace. So, for now, while I save up for a new one I've been using whichever laptop or computer I can get my hands on. For now, enjoy this update, because it might be a bit before I can update again!!

Levi is released the following day with his hands still in bandages and his leg wrapped into oblivion. The doctors practically plead with him to stay, but he can’t. Two days was enough. He had so many dreams running through his head. Corrupt doctors, suicides, gruesome surgeries. Hospitals are too much for him to handle, and he suddenly knows why his mother chose to die at home. He couldn’t even last three days, he wonders how she handled three weeks. She was so much stronger than he could ever be.

He goes to the motel first, and the shower he takes is the best shower he’s ever had in his entire life. Weak pressure, leg wrapped in plastic, and hands just starting to stop being raw to the touch, this shower is the cleanest thing Levi has ever done to his body. The water swirls black and brown down the drain, taking all remnants of soot and blood with it. Good riddance.

He carefully unwraps the bandages around his hands. They’re still raw, but he can use them. It hurts like hell when he washes his hair, but he scrubs until his skin is red and his scalp feels like he lost four layers. It feels good to be clean again. When he gets out, the air chills hit wet skin. He carefully puts on a pair of loose jeans and a t-shirt, pulling his FBI jacket over his shoulders. His hands shake as he pulls the zipper up. He needs coffee. 

The Dunkin’ Donuts two blocks from the motel seems like the best place to go, but he gets in the car and ends up at the cafe he was at before the fire. He reads the sign above the door this time.  _ Laura’s Cavern _ . Stupid name. But he’s ended up here twice, and when he does that, it means something wants him there. Levi is reluctant to believe wholly in the supernatural, even though his entire life revolves around it, but when he ends up blindly the same place twice, it’s never a coincidence. 

The bell chimes as he opens the door, and he puts in an order for the biggest coffee available. He thinks he might need three of them just to get through the next few hours. Sighing, Levi leans against a table and looks at his hands. It’ll be a few weeks before the skin grows back as strong as it was before. His calf will knit itself together with minimal scarring, just an abnormal skin pattern on his leg. Unlike the people he dreams about, he’ll live.

He grabs his coffee and starts to walks out of the shop, but stops when someone taps his shoulder. He turns to see a tall girl, brown hair and freckles adorning her features. “Are you Levi? You work with Detective Erwin Smith, right?”

Levi turns his head slowly, taking in the woman before him. “Depends on who’s asking. Who are you?”

“My name is Ymir. Ymir Fritz. I work for Rod Reiss. I’m a live-in servant for him.”

“This conversation is over.” He walks out the door into the windy October air, the wind cutting through his clothes. There are downsides to being small, like the fact that he can never get warm.

He hears footsteps follow him outside. “Wait! Please! I’m risking my life just talking to you, please let me talk in the first place.”

Levi looks back at the woman following him. She can’t be older than nineteen or twenty, but her hands are full of scars. A long life of hard labor and physical work. She’s tall and visibly muscular, biceps straining against her shirt. Her hair is pulled back, out of her face, and there’s bags under her eyes. Even with those, and no makeup on her face, she’s quite beautiful. She has sharp features that stand out against a crowd. “You have five minutes.” He continues walking to his car, popping the hood on it and leaning over the engine. “Reiss has eyes everywhere around here. You’re helping me fix something, nothing more.”

She leans over the hood as well, eyes inspecting wires and metal. “You and Detective Smith are the only ones who have come close to solving what’s happening in that place. Reiss knows about you. He knew ‘bout you as soon as you stepped foot in this city. You’re a seer, right?”

“Your boss is interested in me. I understand. Why did you need to talk to me?”

Ymir fiddles around with something under the hood. Levi had never really learned about cars. If he could, he would walk everywhere. “Reiss, he pulled me off the streets. I was working construction, hopping from job to job. Homeless, barely making enough to eat, he found me and he gave me a steady job. He pays me good, gives me a place to stay. I thought he was an angel. But I snuck into his office one day. I was a file of his. My mom, she was a medium. She could hear ghosts, but not see them. Or, hear entities, as she put it. She heard them so much it made her crazy. She jumped off a building when I was ten.”

“He wanted to see if you had her abilities.”

“I don’t, but I think he was waiting for me to slip. He’s got a daughter, y’know? Historia, but she likes to be called Krista. Says Historia is a royal name, and she ain’t a royal. She’s seventeen, and she’s lived such a sheltered life. She’s gone missing, agent, and it ain’t because some kidnapper got her. It’s Reiss. He’s gonna sacrifice her. Every five years, three kids, like clockwork. He kills ‘em all.”

Levi pushes something around under the hood, but Ymir is actually looking. “Three? That’s a lot of blood. Hard to clean that up.”

Ymir stiffens, and he knows he’s struck a nerve. A big one. “I plead the fifth, agent. I’m here to help someone I love. Don’t you got someone like that?”

“No.” The answer is immediate, but it’s just an ingrained response. He would do anything if Hanji was missing. He would tear worlds apart for them, even though he finds them annoying. Hanji is the only one who can keep up with him, and the world would be quite boring to live in without their annoying chatter. Hell, he almost died for Erwin, the giant man he likes enough to run into a burning building for. Maybe it’s not so bad having people to love. Love can be more than a weakness, he knows, but in his line of work, love is something to be weary of.

“That’s a sad fact, agent. Please, don’t do it for me. Do it for her. Save her.”

“Where does he keep them? In the house, I need to know.”

“There’s a secret basement off the kitchen. If you come tomorrow night, I can get you in. You gotta come alone, though. Reiss will kill that pretty blonde of yours if you don’t.”

Levi sighs and slams the hood of the car shut. This is a trap. He believes Reiss really has Krista, his own daughter, but he holds that threat over Ymir. “I’ll be there. Nine.”

“Thank you, agent. I want her home safe.”

Levi climbs into the car and watches Ymir go, already dialing a number on her phone. He has no doubt that he just agreed to a death wish. Reiss wants to sacrifice him. It makes sense. Levi is one of the more powerful seers, and those are hard to come by. He comes from a long line of them, making his bloodline strong. He’s of virgin blood, but older than a sacrifice should be. Not that he’s a sexual virgin, but a sacrificial one. He’s never used his blood in a sacrifice, just his body. He would add significant power to Reiss’s ritual. Which means he’s looking for more power.

Levi pulls up to the station and heads inside. Everyone is helping clean up from the fire. The entire building has to be remodeled, and for the time being, they have to go to the next precinct over, the 88. Erwin is in his office, packing up personal files and his neat desk. The items go into not-so-neat boxes. The room looks barren with only a desk and some chairs. Levi never realized how many personal items Erwin kept.

Levi has nothing to pack, so he sits in one of the old chairs. Erwin’s office wasn’t touched by the fire, so everything is intact. It’s one of the few places that is. “I just met Ymir, one of Rod’s servants. She wants me to come by the house tomorrow night. Alone. She’ll show me where the rituals are held.”

Erwin sighs and sets his pencil holder in a box, hands resting on the sides of it. “You know it’s a trap, right?”

“Of course I know it’s a trap. He wants me, Smith. I’m a powerful sacrifice.”

“Then why are you going?”

Levi sighs. He wishes, sometimes, he could still watch others die with no emotion. In the Underground, it happened all the time. A body could be laying there for days, stench filling up the air, before the coroner’s office got around to picking it up. He would walk over a limp arm on his way to school almost weekly, and eventually, he learned to be indifferent to it. He wishes he didn’t care so much and could still pretend death doesn’t affect him. “He’s got his own daughter, Smith. He’s going to sacrifice her, and I can’t let that happen. She’s only seventeen. A kid.”

Erwin stops his task, hands stilling as he puts a pencil holder into a box. “I can’t let you go alone.”

“You can, and you will. I can handle myself.”

Erwin’s eyes flit to the door of his office. It’s closed, and the shades are drawn. Good. He can do what he wants. With no warning, he fists his hands in Levi’s jack and hauls him up, the smaller man’s legs wrapping around his waist in an effort to maintain balance. Erwin shoves Levi up against the wall, letting the structure take some of the weight, not that Levi weighs much. He never realized just how light the agent was, but now he can feel it. He’s all lithe muscles and strong grip.

Their mouths slot together and it’s like they haven’t eaten in years with the raw  _ hunger  _ that they kiss with. It’s rough and sloppy and needy, and Levi loves every bit of it. When he pulls away, he’s out of breath, lips swollen and red. Erwin’s pupils have dilated, and they’re staring directly at him. The taste of the blond lies heavily on his tongue, and he can’t help but want another sample.

“If you die, then I can’t take you out on a proper date. One where you don’t end up in the hospital.”

Right. They had been talking about that. “She’s seventeen, Erwin.” 

“We’ll figure out a plan, and one that doesn’t include you going into an early grave.”

It takes Levi too long to realize his legs are still around Erwin’s waist. With a graceful ease, he untangles himself from the larger man and lands on his feet, ignoring the small shockwave of pain that radiates up his calf. “Yeah, the plan is that I go in alone. Look, the kid, the one that I first dreamt about when I got here, he’s there. He’s protecting them, and he’ll protect me, too. He’s angry and he’s strong enough to stick around after centuries. If I lend him my body...he might be strong enough to take down Reiss.” Even Levi knew that was a stupid idea. The force of that spirit could burn him right through. It would stop his heart.

“I’m not putting my faith in things that shouldn’t even exist. We will figure out a plan.”

There was so much determination in Erwin’s eyes, Levi didn’t even bother arguing.

***

Levi shows up at the mansion right as the clock strikes nine. Ymir is waiting for him at the back entrance, her hair tied up in ponytails and her mouth set in a grim line. “I know you figured it out by now,” she sighs, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Her pale skin shows off her freckles in the moonlight. “I just want her safe.”

“I know.”

They walk into the kitchen, and Ymir goes into the pantry, pressing in a few panels of tile on the wall. Levi memorizes the order, and then watches as the wall pulls back. It opens to a set of stairs, and Ymir grabs a flashlight off the wall. It’s automatic, and he knows she has been down these steps many times before.

“Does he do any side rituals? Ones that help only him, and not the six.” 

“I can’t tell you that, agent.”

“I’m about to die. You could at least entertain a man’s curiosity."

He could see the slight indecisiveness flicker in her eyes. “A few. Whenever he starts gettin’ sick and old lookin’ again. He gets the kids no one’ll miss. Y’know, the ones born to crack mommies and absent daddies.”

So, Rod wasn’t just looking to secure his richness. He wanted to stay young forever. Levi had a feeling he was going to make the ultimate sacrifice. His own bloodline, a connection with the other world, and whatever was left of his soul, sacrificed on the day the veil lifted. It was powerful enough to keep him going for a long, long time. A human soul is invaluable, even one as corrupted as Reiss’s. He doesn’t tell Ymir Krista will never be free. He needs that anger for later.

They reach the end of the staircase and are faced with a heavy door. Ymir hauls it open, the muscles on her arms bunching, and waves him through. Inside is a big, open space, decorated with just one alter. Human remains lay in the center. The leftovers of the Mayan boy, he suspects. They’re prepubescent. Other bones litter the place: cat, dog, he even makes out some rat remains. But the star of the show is the human sacrifice of old, meant to appease the gods.

Levi can feel terror start to creep into his own emotions, and fights off the urge to give into them. Being scared won’t help anyone, and he’s not giving up his level-headedness just be curled up in a corner hoping for a savior. Instead, he tries to focus on where the feeling is coming from. Part of it is from the remains themselves, leftover feelings and energy of when the human and animals were still alive, telling Levi they had all met violent deaths.

The majority of it comes from a room around a bend. He wants to to run away and follow it at the same time. Ultimately, Ymir pushing him forward and forcing him to walk was the answer. She stays close behind him, using her height to intimidate him. Levi wants to know what’s behind it, but that low feeling in his gut warns him away.

Around the corner is where the fear hits him full force. It creeps into his head until his hands start shaking, and not only can he feel Krista’s fear, but the screams of those before her. He can feel their agony, their terror, their hope slowly fading out. He can hear the sound of their blood staining the floors, of Rod’s knife cutting their skin to bleed them out. Exsanguination. Each and every one of them bled out until they had nothing else to give.

The more he steps into the room, the more he realizes he can’t just feel the children of the past, but he can  _ see  _ them. Their shadows haunt the walls, a reminder of who they were. There are too many of them for a name or a face from all of them, but they seem to know he has a sight for them. Somehow, they know. They creep along the wall, unbeknownst to anyone else, and settle between Krista and another, bigger, chair. He assumes the same chains around the small girl will be put around him, too.

If Ymir hadn’t told him, he would have guessed Krista was in her early teens. She is so small and short that her feet don’t even reach the ground and her blue eyes look far too big for her head. Her face is dirty save for the places where tears have made tracks on her skin. She radiates so much fear for someone with a little body, and Levi slightly hates her for it.

Ymir steps up behind him, pushing him forward with the head of the flashlight. “Here,” she snarls, demeanor changing completely. “I brought you the seer. Now let her go.” All she wants is Krista safe, and for that, Levi feels slightly bad for her.

He follows her line of sight to a dark blob in the corner of the room, face lightened by the embers of a dying fire. Ash sparks float throughout the air near him, yet he pays no attention when they scorch his skin. He looks years older than when Levi first spoke to him, that’s for sure. His time before he needs to make the sacrifice is running thin.

“Agent Levi! What a pleasant surprise. Ymir, please put him next to my daughter. Chain him up.”

He lets her push him towards the chair, lets her tie him up. He knows if he doesn’t, Ross will use Krista as a threat towards both of them. Instead, he sits perfectly still as Ymir clamps the chains around his ankles and wrist. The cold metal stings against his healing skin. 

It’s when Krista’s quiet sobs reach his ears, does he feel it. There is something there protecting her, and it’s more than Ymir. It’s the same thing that drew him to this case. It’s the same thing he first saw when he entered the world of Chicago. It is the boy that clued them into all of this.

He has, at least,  _ something  _ on his side.

That is enough to give him hope, and enough time to think of a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still $900 from what I need. I've left links on how to support me on every chapter before this, so I won't do it again, but if you guys want to help me by donating to my ko-fi, it would be greatly appreciated. Until then, updates will be sporadic. Thanks for understanding. As always, comments/kudos are appreciated and I love you all!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW THAT SIX MONTH BREAK THO!!!! Sorry for taking so long! Just so you know, I did get a new computer, and I've been typing away at my own novel! but, for now, I feel like I have to finish this fic so, here's the second to last chapter! hopefully the last one doesnt take me another six months

The quiet sounds of Krista’s sobbing are starting to get on Levi’s nerves. He can still feel the boy with them, hovering over her. He wants to protect her. Levi just wants her to make it out alive. In front of them, Rod slits the throat of a black cat. Its yowl seems to crack the walls. The blood trickles down Reiss’s arm and into his pot. Already, his skin has started fixing itself—turning younger and glowing more.

The chains next to him clink, Krista’s voice wet as she yells, “Daddy, please! Just let me go! I won’t tell anyone I promise! Please!” She strains, but her small muscles don’t come close to breaking the metal. Ymir stands silently beside her, eyes watching Rod like a hawk. She doesn’t miss one thing, but Krista pays her no mind.

“Now, now, Historia,” Reiss replies, throwing the cat into the flame under the bowl. It turns a mystifying blue before returning to its orange hue. “Don’t be dramatic. I’ve made a deal with Ymir, and I am a man of my word. I will not harm a hair on your head.”

Levi narrows his own eyes, knowing how this will turn out. He will tear a piece of Krista’s hair out, give it to Ymir, and then kill them both. He can’t help but notice, that with the three of them there, it makes enough for a sacrifice. Levi may not be as young as he once was, but his seer blood ensures power, and power is something Rod Reiss cannot live without. 

Yet, he stays silent. He has to be strategic, and think of when to use that anger. Anger, he knows, is powerful. It burns and boils the blood, surges adrenaline until veins throb and muscles feel like tearing. 

Reiss turns to him, his hands dipping into the boiling blood, painting runes on his face. Levi doesn’t recognize them, but he feels the boy get angry. Whatever the runes mean, the dead kid understands what they are. He can feel this new anger simmering in the air. The boy doesn’t like sacrifices, resents the fact that he was one. It’s rare for a ghost to know how, or when, they died. Only the powerful ones, the ones that can visit him in person, have access to that level of consciousness. With all of the anger and the hate that this small, murdered boy is holding on to, Levi has no doubt that if he let him use his body, he wouldn’t make it out alive.

“You know, agent, I thought you would be taller in person. What kind of man is this small?”

Levi seethes. “One that knows exactly how many times someone can be stabbed without dying, and how to do it.” He lets Reiss think he’s getting a rise out of him. It’ll fool him, and that’s what he’s counting on. He’s also counting on Erwin, to figure out where he is. Maybe Mike can sniff them out with that weird nose of his. 

“After this, you can stab me as many times as you want.” Reiss snickers, and then goes back to his task. He’s chanting in a language Levi doesn’t understand. Hanji would know. Hanji would translate it instantly. They have an innate talent for languages. Levi thinks that the last words he said to them were  _ I gotta go _ and wants to call them back. His love is as much a weakness as it is a necessity, but if he’s gonna die, he wants to say it just once. Just once.

They all watch as Reiss continues to chant, and as he does so, the runes tattoo themselves onto his skin. They become part of him, absorbed into his very being. Hours turn into centuries, and the unintelligible babble becomes nails on a chalkboard. All of the faces burned into the walls, the sacrifices that hold so much anger and rage, all of the ones Reiss killed before them, start to grow restless. Levi can feel their emotions pump into his veins. Yet, tied to this chair, all he can do is sit, and wait.

***

Erwin seethes outside the Reiss mansion. Mike is at his side. If anyone else saw him, they would think he was calm, but Erwin knew better. The twitch of his fingers and curl of his upper lip were signs of rage simmering beneath the skin. Erwin wants to stoke the fire, become two raging bulls able to stampede anything in their path. As Levi’s tentative boyfriend, that’s his first instinct. As a detective and tactician, he knows that’s the best way to ensure everyone gets killed. 

“Erwin, we need a plan, and fast,” Mike snaps.

Erwin takes a breath to keep himself from yelling back. It’s nearing midnight on Halloween. They’re losing time with every second that passes, and Levi’s clock is running out. “I know! I know. Just, let me think.” Erwin sees the blueprint of the house in his mind. He thinks of every entrance, and of anything that could have been deleted but still there. He knows ancient houses can have cellars connected in the house, ones that were supposedly filled in. It would have been easy to pretend like it was. 

“The back kitchen door. That’s our line of entrance. We have ten minutes until midnight, Mike. I can’t believe he didn’t call me.”

“We’re here now, Erwin, that’s all that matters.”

He’s right. “There should be a servant’s entry near the kitchen. It’s the lowest point of the house. If there’s something under, it will be there.”

Mike nods, and they start making their way towards the gate. Erwin thinks about scaling it, since there’s no way the attendant will open for them. Instead, Mike just shrugs and goes into the booth. There’s a small struggle, a loud crash, and then the gate opens. His old friend walks out, his nose only slightly bloodied. Raising his eyebrows, the detective says nothing more and enters through the gate. With his silence, sometimes Erwin forgets Mike was top of the class in combat at the academy.

The two make their way in, and finding the door they need is easy. Erwin is about to try the knob, but Mike stops him, his hand a cold grip on his arm. “Erwin, the alarm. It’ll go off.”

The blond smiles slightly. “He won’t have it on. Not tonight. Trust me.”

Mike nods, his hands falling to his sides. “Okay.”

The door opens easily. The two detectives step inside, and prepare for what lays before them.

***

It’s minutes to midnight. Levi doesn’t know how he knows it, but he does. The feelings from the Other are stronger, more powerful. He can see them more clearly. They’re invading his thoughts and injecting false emotions into his veins. It burns. He can’t remember them ever being this powerful. Then again, he’d never been in a room so full of angry spirits. 

Rod’s chanting gets heavier. The air around him is charged with power, and his hands shake with the force of it. He’s distracted, absorbed into whatever spell is leaving his lips. This is Levi’s only chance. “He’s going to kill her.”

Both girls whip their heads towards him. Ymir stands, her height intimidating, her muscles straining. “What?”

“He’s going to kill her, Ymir. His promise is a lie. His own blood is the ultimate sacrifice.”

There’s fury in Ymir’s eyes. She looks between Levi and her boss, not sure which one to believe. He can tell, with how quickly her anger rises, that the energy in the room is wearing off on all of them. “Would he? Kill his own daughter?”

“Yes.” But it’s not Levi who speaks. It’s Krista, who has stopped crying. Her face is one of steel, and Levi has to admire her for that. “He would. My father is a monster.” She lets her mouth close into a grim line, and then yanks her wrist free of the cuffs. It clatters to the ground, and Levi guesses they have seconds before Reiss realizes. Krista spits out a sharp bone from her mouth. That’s why she had been covering her mouth so much. Undoing the lock in small increments, making sure not to be seen. She pulls her hair up into a ponytail. “That’s the thing with monsters,” she snarls, moving to undo Levi’s chains. Her slim fingers are quick and strong. “They don’t realize they only raise demons. I’ll kill him.”

The certainty in her voice shakes Levi to the core. It reminds him of his first fight. Then, he had only known  _ survival  _ and  _ death  _ and  _ violence _ . Krista, does not. Krista is sweet. She has pretty eyes and beautiful blonde hair. He shakes his head, firmly putting Historia in her girlfriend’s arms. They have to get out of there soon, before the clock strikes, before the veil falls. He has a feeling the anger will consume them all. “Go, now. I’ll deal with him.”

The air in the small cellar is starting to swirl, making a wind surround them. Their hair flies and the loose paper and dust collects in the breeze, swaying throughout the room. “Go!”

Krista looks like she might say something, but Ymir throws her over her shoulder. The smaller girl kicks and struggles, protesting the move, but Ymir holds her tight. Her eyes level with Levi’s. “If he’s not dead by sunrise, I’ll finish the job myself.”

Levi nods, and watches the girls leave. At the same time, he can feel the veil lifting. The Other is mixing with their world, and his body is on  _ fire _ . This is the worst it’s ever been. He can feel their anger in him, mixing with his own, giving him strength and  _ power  _ and he thinks he knows why Reiss is so obsessed with it. He feels like he can fight the world. It’s overwhelming and it feels  _ good _ . For the first time since he left the Underground, Levi is scared of something. He’s never tapped into this much of his empathic abilities. 

Reiss finally looks up from his spell, only to notice the people he was supposed to sacrifice are gone. His usually calm demeanor is eaten by fury. The god he is praying to is not happy, and neither are the spirits trapped in the room. They each have their own armies. Faintly, Levi can hear more footsteps on the stone stairs behind him. The wind in the room picks up, turning into a small tornado. It’s getting hard to breathe, and he has to shout for his voice to be carried. 

“You know what I am, Reiss! The kids you killed, they’re angry!”

“What are children to a god!” Reiss shouts back, pouring his own blood into the bowl. It hisses, and the smell of copper fills the room. It smells the way a penny tastes.

Levi wants to respond, but suddenly, all he can do is  _ scream. _  The anger inside him reaches a plateau, and in that moment, he can feel each and every thing that has died in that basement. He can see all of them. There are hundreds, each angry in their own right. There’s so many that the faces blur away, and Levi wonders where their bones are. He wonders where they were finally put to rest. The thought that they might be rotting under his feet makes him angrier than he’s ever felt. His mouth opens and what comes out isn’t even human.

It’s animalistic. It comes straight from his chest, and it’s not a scream. It’s a  _ wail _ . His voice is not his own, and the force of it pushes Reiss back from the dagger he is holding. It swirls before clattering to the ground. Reiss batters back into the wall, landing harshly on the floor.

He shakily stands, mouth moving forming words Levi cannot hear. He suspects he’s still trying to go on with the spell, but then Levi gets a sense of pain in his chest. When he looks down, there’s blood streaming down his abdomen and his shirt has been ripped to shreds. All he can do is let out another screech, and it tears his throat to pieces. His body is no longer his own, and if this anger burns any hotter, it will boil him alive.

There are hands on him. Foreign things. Things that do not belong to him and the spirits that invade him. He can’t stop himself from pushing them away, getting a glimpse of bright blue eyes and even brighter blond hair. In the back of his mind he thinks  _ Erwin _ , but it’s not important. He is not Levi’s mission. Instead, he places both hands on this foreign man’s chest and pushes. He goes slamming into the wall behind him, crumpling as he hits it.

The other man, bigger than the blondie, stares at Levi like he’s crazy, but Levi doesn’t care. They are not important. He seethes, rips the rest of his shirt off his body and uses it to soak up blood. The pain only makes him angrier. Angrier, and  _ stronger _ . The next scream to come out of his mouth straps Reiss to his own wall. The years have started to gain on him. Without his sacrifice, he is nothing. Even with all his chanting, there has been no blood spilled, no price paid.

The voice that comes out of Levi is not his own. It is the voice of the hundreds whose blood had spilled from the dagger that now lays between him and Reiss. “You spilled our blood. We are just returning the favor.” It’s garbled and torn away by the wind, but it’s crystal clear at the same time. There’s no denying these voices are real, and the look of pure fear on Rod’s face means he can hear them.

Levi can hear rustling behind him, but his actions are no longer his control. Unwillingly, he has given his body to those who no longer have one. “YOU SPILLED OUR BLOOD!” he roars. It takes all the oxygen out of his lungs, and he can feel his body start to give out. He comes to his knees, eyes staring down the man in front of him. Before he can blink, Reiss ages a hundred years. Decade by decade, he decayes, his body withering.

“PAY THE PRICE FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” A hundred voices yell at once, forming in the base of his throat. Indistinct, but precise.

He can’t take it anymore. The wind in the room has turned into an all out cyclone, picking up things and tossing them around. He is hit in the face with a spare table leg, bashing his head into a chair. His lungs feel ready to fall out. His chest heaves with pain, blood still spilling from the wound. Reiss falls in front of him, staggering just to take his last steps. He collapses in front of Levi, every bit his age. 

His words are dusty, trapped in sand. “You would do the same. If it meant to be alive.” They sound hoarse. Dry. 

This time, Levi’s voice is his own. Reiss’s body starts to crumble into ash before him. “No. I would have let them live.” 

The spirits storm his body, taking whatever energy he has left. Without warning, Levi lets out a final scream. He doesn’t know how, but he knows, after this, he will be dead. They raided his body and took whatever he had to offer. It meant taking down Reiss, so he offered everything. Now, Rod Reiss is nothing but a pile of forgotten ash at his feet.

One hand over his chest, another cradling his injured head, Levi Ackerman falls to the ground, and stops breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! As always, kudos/comments are MUCH appreciated and ilysm!!


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